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TORONTO. 1901

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VOL. I.

ftALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO
EDINBURGH AND LONDON

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BY MRS. JAMESON.

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VOLUME I.

CONTAINING

LEGENDS OF THE ANGELS AND AECHANGELS, THE EVANGELISTS,

THE APOSTLES, THE DOCTOES OF THE CHURCH,

AND ST. MARY MAGDALENE,

AS REPRESENTED IN THE FINE ARTS,

NEW EDITION.

LONDON:
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

AND NEW YORK : 15 EAST 16«' STREET.
1890.

PEEFACE

TO

THE FIRST EDITION.
(1848.)

This book was begun six years ago, in 1842. It has since been often laid
aside, and again resumed. In this long interval, many useful and delightful
works have been written on the same subject, but still the particular ground I
had chosen remained unoccupied; and, amid many difficulties, and the con-
sciousness of many deficiencies, I was encouraged to proceed, partly by the
pleasure I took in a task so congenial — partly by the conviction that such a
work has long been wanted by those who are not contented with a mere
manual of reference, or a mere catalogue of names. This book is intended
not only to be consulted, but to be read — if it be found worth reading. It
has been written for those who are, like myself, unlearned ; yet less, certainly,
with the idea of instructing, than from a wish to share with others those
pleasurable associations, those ever new and ever various aspects of character
and sentiment, as exhibited in Art, w^hich have been a source of such vivid
enjoyment to myself.

This is the utmost limit' of my ambition ; and, knowing that I cannot escape
criticism, I am at least anxious that there should be no mistake as to purpose
and intention. I hope it will be clearly understood that I have taken through-
out the aesthetic and not the religious view, of those productions of Art which,
in as far as they are informed with a true and earnest feeling, and steeped in
that beauty which emanates from genius inspired by faith, may cease to be
Religion, but cannot cease to be Poetry ; and as poetry only I have considered
them.

The difficulty of selection and compression has been the greatest of all my
difficulties ; there is not a chapter in this book which might not have been
more easily extended to a volume than compressed into a few pages. Every

vUl PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

reader, however, who is interested in the subject, may supply the omissions,
follow out the suggestions, and enjoy the pleasure of discovering new excep-
tions, new analogies, for himself. With regard to the arrangement, I am afraid
it will be found liable to objections ; but it is the best that, after long con-
sideration and many changes, I could fix upon. It is not formal, nor technical,
like that of a catalogue or a calendar, but intended to lead the fancy naturally
from subject to subject as one opened upon another, with just sufficient order
to keep the mind unperplexed and the attention unfatigued amid a great diver-
sity of objects, scenes, stories, and characters.

The authorities for the legends have been the Legenda Atirea of Voragine,
in the old French and English translations ; the Flos Sanctorum of Ribadeneira,
in the old French translation ; the Perfetto Legendario, editions of Eome and
Venice ; the Legende delle Sante Vergini, Florence and Venice ; the large work
of Baillet, Les Vies des Saints, in thirty-two volumes, most useful for the his-
torical authorities ; and Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints. All these have been
consulted for such particulars of circumstance and character as might illustrate
the various representations, and then compressed into a narrative as clear as I
could render it. Where one authority only has been followed, it is usually
placed in the margin.

The First Part contains the legends of the scriptural personages and the
primitive fathers.

The Second Part contains those sainted personages who lived, or are sup-
posed to have lived, in the first ages of Christianity, and whose real history,
founded on fact or tradition, has been so disguised by poetical embroidery, that
they have in some sort the air of ideal beings. As I could not undertake to go
through the whole calendar, nor yet to make my book a catalogue of pictures
and statues, I have confined myself to the saints most interesting and important,
and (with very few exceptions) to those works of Art of which I could speak
from my own knowledge.

The legends of the monastic orders, and the history of the Franciscans and
Dominicans, considered merely in their connection with the revival and deve-
lopment of the Fine Arts in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, open so
wide a range of speculation, — the characteristics of these religious enthusiasts
of both sexes are so full of interest and beauty as artistic conceptions, and as
psychological and philosophical studies so extraordinary, that I could not, in
conscience, compress them into a few pages : they form a volume complete in
itself, entitled * Legends of the Monastic Orders.'

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

ix

The little sketches and woodcuts are trifling as illustrations, and can only
assist the memory and the fancy of the reader ; but I regret this the less, inas-
much as those who take an interest in the subject can easily illustrate the book
for themselves. To collect a portfolio of prints, including those works of Art
which are cited under each head as examples, with a selection from the hun-
dreds of others which are not cited, and arrange them in the same order —
with reference, not to schools, or styles, or dates, but to subject merely — would
be an amusing, and I think not a profitless, occupation. It could not be done
in the right spirit without leading the mind far beyond the mere pleasure of
comparison and criticism, to * thoughts more elevate and reasonings high' of
things celestial and terrestrial, as shadowed forth in form by the wit and the
hand of man.

CONTENTS

OP

THE FIKST VOLUME.

Preface ..........

Introduction :

I. Of the Origin and general Significance of the Legends represented
in Art ........

II. Of the Distinction to be drawn between Devotional and Historical
Subjects .......

III. Of the Patron Saints of particular Countries, Cities, and Localities

IV. Of certain Emblems and Attributes of general Application .

V. Of the Significance of Colours. Conclusion ....

11
18
23
35

OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS.

Of Angels. Antiquity of the Belief in Angels. Early Notions respecting
them. How represented in the Old Testament. In the New Testament.
Angelic Hierarchies. The Nine Choirs. Seraphim, Cherubim. General
Characteristics in Painting. Infant Angels. Wings. Angels of Dante.
Angels as Messengers, Choristers, Guardians. As Ministers of "Wrath.
As Agents in the Creation. Manner in which the principal Painters have
set forth the Angelic Forms and Attributes . . . .41

The Archangels. The Seven Archangels. The Four Archangels. The
Three Archangels . . . . . . . .87

St. Michael . . . . ' . . , . .94

St. Gabriel . . . . , . . .118

St. Raphael . . . . . . . . .126

Additional Notes on Angels . . . • . . 131

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

THE FOUR EVANGELISTS.

PACK

The earliest Types : as Four Books ; as Four Rivers ; as the Four Mysterious

Animals ; the Human and Animal Forms combined ; with Wings ; as Men 132
St. Matthew. His Legend. His Attributes. Pictures from his Life not

common ......... 143

St. Mark. His Legend. Devotional Pictures : as Evangelist ; as the Disciple

of Peter ; as the Patron Saint of Venice. The Legend of the Fisherman.

The Legend of the Christian Slave. The Translation of the Body of St.

Mark . . . . . . . . .147

St. Luke. His Legend. Devotional Figures. Attributes : as Evangelist and

Painter. St. Luke painting the Virgin . . . . .154

St. John. Hjs Legend. Devotional Pictures : as Evangelist ; as Apostle ; as

Prophet. Subjects from his Life ; Legend of St. John and the Robber ;

of the two Young Men ; of Drusiana ; of the Huntsman and the Partridge.

The Martyrdom of St. John. Legend of the Death of St. John. Legend

of Galla Placidia. Of King Edward the Confessor . . .157

The Six Writers of the Canonical Epistles, as a Series .... 172

THE TWELVE APOSTLES.

Ancient Types : as Twelve Sheep ; as Twelve Doves ; as Twelve Men. How
grouped in Ecclesiastical Decoration. In the old Mosaics ; their proper
place. Examples from various Painters. Historical Subjects relating to
the Twelve Apostles : the Pentecost ; the Separation of the Twelve Apostles
to preach the Gospel ; the Twelve Baptisms ; the Twelve Martyrdoms . 173

St. Peter and St. Paul. The Ancient Greek Types. Examples of the early
Treatment of these two Apostles : in the old Mosaics ; in early Sculpture ;
in Pictures ......... 185

St. Peter. His peculiar Attributes : as Apostle and Patron Saint ; as the Head
and Founder of the Roman Church ; St. Peter as Pope. Subjects from
the Scriptural Life of St. Peter. Legendary Stories connected with St.
Peter. The Legend of Simon Magus ; of the ' Domitie quo vadis ? ' of
Processus and Martinian. The Martyrdom of St. Peter. St Peter as
Keeper of the Gates of Paradise. The Legend of St. Petronilla. The
Life of St. Peter in a Series of Subjects ..... 193

St. Paul. Earliest Type. Attributes of St Paul : the Sword. Subjects from
his Life. Stoning of Stephen. Conversion of St PauL The Vision of
St Paul. Miracles of St Paul His Martyrdom. The Legend of Plau-
tilla. The Life of St Paul in a Series of Subjects . . .212

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. xiij

PAGB

St. Andret^t. The Legend. Attributes. Historical Subjects from the Life of
St. Andrew. Flagellation. Adoration of the Cross. ^Martyrdom as repre-
sented by Guido, Domenichino, and Murillo .... 226

St. James Major. Story and Character as represented in Scripture. St.
James as Patron of Spain. The Legend of Santiago. The Battle of
Clavijo. The Pilgrims of Compostella, The Devotional Figures and At-
tributes of St. James the Apostle. As Tutelar Saint of Spain. Pictures
from his Legend ........ 930

St. Philip. The Legend of the Idol and the Serpent. Devotional Pictures
and Attributes. Subjects from his Legend. Distinction between St. Philip
the Apostle and St. Pliilip the Deacon . . . . . 241

St. Bartholomew. The Legend. The Attributes. Martyrdom . . 244

St. Thomas. Origin of his peculiar Attribute. The Legend of King Qondo-
forus. The Incredulity of St. Thomas. The Legend of the ' Madonna delta
Ointola.^ Martyrdom of St. Thomas ..... 245

St. James Minor. First Bishop of Jerusalem. Attributes. Eesemblance to

Christ. Subjects from his Life. Martyrdom. Frescoes at Padua . 250

St. Simon and St. Jude. Legend and Attributes. Represented as Children . 252
St. Matthias. Attributes . . . . . . .254

Judas Iscariot. Scriptural Character. Legends relating to him. How re-
presented in various Subjects ...... 255

The Last Supper. Its importance as a Sacred Subject. Devotional when it
represents the Institution of the Eucharist. Historical when it represents
the Detection of Judas. Various examples. Giotto. Duccio of Siena.
Angelico da Fiesole. Luca SignoreUi, Ghirlandajo. Albert Diirer.
Leonardo da Vinci. Raphael. Andrea del Sarto. Titian. Poussin . 261
Faults and Mistakes committed by Painters in representing the Last Supper . 273
St. Barnabas. His Legend. Popular at Venice as Kinsman of St. Mark.

Represented with the Gospel of St. Matthew .... 27«

THE DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH.

The Four Latin Fathers. Their particular Attributes. Their proper place
in Ecclesiastical Decoration. Subjects in which they are introduced
together .....•••• 280

St. Jerome. History and Character. Influence over the Roman Women.
Origin of his Attributes. Legend of the Wounded Lion. Devotional
Figures of St. Jerome : as Patron Saint ; as Translator of the Scriptures ;
as Penitent. Subjects from the Life of St. Jerome. The Communion of
St. Jerome . " . . . . . • • '285

VOL. I. ^

»l^ CONTENTS OP THE FIRST VOLUME.

5r. Ambrose. Story and Character of St. Ambrose. The Emperor Theodosius.
The Discovery of the Martyrs St. Protasius and St. Gervasius. Legends
relating to St. Ambrose. The Prefect Macedonius. The Nobleman of
Tuscany. Devotional Figures of St. Ambrose. His peculiar Attributes.
His Church at Milan ; his Life as represented on the Altar. Statue of St.
Ambrose ......... 300

St. Augustine. Character of St. Augustine. His Shrine at Pavia, and Basso-
relievos representing his Life. Devotional Figures of St. Augustine. Ee-
presented with his Mother, Monica. Various Subjects from his Life. The
Vision of St. Augustine ....... 308

St. Gregory. His Story and Character. His Popularity. Legends connected
with His Life. Origin of his Attribute, the Dove. The Supper of St.
Gregory. The Mass of St. Gregory. The Miracle of the Brandeum. St,
Gregory releases the Soul of the Emperor Trajan. The Legend as repre-
sented in Pictures. The Legend of the Monk. St. Gregory's Doctrine of
Purgatory. How represented . . . . . .315

The Five Greek Fathers. How represented in the Greek Pictures, and by

the Latin Artists ........ 324

St. John Chrysostom. Singular Legends with regard to him. The Penance
of St. Chrysostom. As represented in the German Prints. By Lucas
Cranach. By Beham. By Albert Diirer ..... 325

St. Basil the Great. His Character. How represented. Story of the Em-
peror Valens. Legends which refer to St. Basil .... 335

St. Athanasius. How represented. Unpopular as a Subject of Art . . 339

St. Gregory Nazianzen. His History and Character. His celebrity as a

Poet. Beautiful Miniatures relative to his Life .... 340

St. Cyril. How represented ••,.... 342

ST. MAKY MAGDALENE, ST. MARTHA, ST. LAZARUS, ST. MAXIMIN,
ST. MARCELLA, ST. MARY OF EGYPT. AND THE BEATIFIED
PENITENTS.

Character of Mary Magdalene. Disputes concerning her Identity. The Popular
and Scriptural Legend. The old Provencal Legend. The Devotional Re-
presentations : as Patron Saint ; as Penitent. Sacred Subjects in which
she is introduced. Legendary Subjects. La Danse de la Madeleine. The

CONTElT^rS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

VAGE

Assumption of the Magdalene. The Legend of the Mother and Child.
Her Life in a Series of Subjects. Legends of Mary Magdalene and St.
John the Evangelist . . . . . . .343

St. Martha, Her Character. Legends of St. Martha. How represented.
Where introduced ........ 381

St. Lazarus ......... 383

St. Mart of Egypt. The Legend. Distinction between St. Mary of Egypt
and Mary Magdalene. Proper Attributes of Mary of Egypt. Stories and
Pictures from her Life . . . . . . .385

Mary the Penitent not to be confounded with Mary of Egypt. Her Story.
Landscapes of Philippe de Champagne ..... 390

St. Thais. St. Pelagia . . , . . . .393

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

IN

THE FIEST VOLUME.

1. Laus Deo. Liber ale di Verona.

2. AngeL Gaudenzio Ferrari.

'6. Angels singing ' Gloria in Excelsis Deo.' Perughio.

4. Seraph. Greek Emblem, 9th Century.

5. Cherubim. Italian, \^ih Century.

6. Cherubim. Finturicchio.

7. Cherubim. Liberate di Verona.

8. Part of a Glory of Angels. Ambrogio Borgognon^.

9. Winged Genius. Egyptian.

10. Winged Figure. Nineveh Marbles.

11. Seraph. Ancient Greek Mosaic.

12. Angels. Otxagna.

13. Fiery Cherub. Raphael.

14. Angel, hymning the Virgin. Franciu.

15. Piping Angel. Gian Bellini.

16. Greek Angel bearing the Moon,

1 7. Angels on Horseback. Cathedral of Auxerre.

18. Angels expelling Adam and Eve. N. Pisano.

19. Angels who visit Abraham. Raphael.

20. Plan of the Riccardi Chapel. Florence.

21. Lamenting Angel. Canipo SarUo.

22. The Angel wrestles with Jacob. GreeJc Miniature.
22. Greek Angel. Miniature,

24. Greek Angels. Mosaic.

25. Angels. F. Granacci.

26. Angel in a Crucifixion. Albert Durer.

27. Angels of the 17th Centurv.

28. Angel. Poussin.

,viU LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST VOLUME.

29. Angels rejoicing. W, Blake.

30. Two Archangels. Cimabue.

31. The Archangels Michael and Raphael. Campo Santo.

32. Angels bearing the Instruments of the Passion. Campo Santo.

33. The Three Archangels bear the Infant Christ.

34. St Michael as Patron Saint. Angelico da Fiesoh.

35. Early Symbol of St. Michael and the Dragon. Bas-relief.

36. St. Michael overcomes the Demon. Martin Schoen.

37. The same subject. Raphael.

38. St. Michael as Patron Saint. Mabuse.

39. St Michael as Angel of Judgment and Lord of Souls. Justus of Ghent.

40. St Michael as Lord of Souls. Luca Signorelli.

41. Egyptian Symbol.

42. St. Gabriel. Lorenzo of Monaco.

43. St. Gabriel Wilhelm of Cologne.

44. Angel announcing the Death of the Virgin. Fillppo Lippi.

45. St Gabriel. Van Eyck.

46. St. RaphaeL Murillo.

47. St Raphael. Rembrandt.

48. The Symbol of St Matthew. Mosaic.

49. The Tetramorph. Greek.

50. Symbol of St. Luke. Mosaic.

51. Symbol of St Luke. Mosaic.

52. Symbol of St. John. Mosaic.

53. Symbol of St Mark. Mosaic,

54. Symbol of St John. Miniature.

55. Symbol of St. Mark. Sculpture.

56. Mystical Figures of the Four Evangelists. Angelico da Fiesoh.

57. Figure from Nineveh. British Museum.

58. "Winged St Mark. Hans Beham.

59. St. Matthew. Raphael,

60. St John. Hans Hemling,

61. St. John with the Eagle. Raphael.

62. St John as Prophet Raphael,

63. St John in the Island of Patmos. Lucas van Ley den,

64. The Twelve Apostles, as Sheep. Mosaic.

65. St. Philip. Orcagna.

66. St Peter and St Paul. Carlo Crivelli.

67. St Peter. Greek Type,

C8. St Peter with one Key. Taddeo Gaddi.

69. St Paul Greek Type,

70. St Peter as Pope. Cola delV Amatrice.

71. Repentance of Peter. Bas-relief, 3rd Century.

72. Crucifixion of Peter. Oiotto.

LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST VOLUME.

73. St. Peter, as Keeper of the Gates of Paradise. Simone Memmu

74. St. Andrew. Peter Vischer.

75. St. James Major. Giovanni Santi.

76. Santiago slaying tlie Moors. Garreno de Miranda.

77. St. James Major as Patron. Andrea del Sarto,

78. The Miracle of the Fowls. Lo Svaav^z-

79. St. Philip. Albert DUrer.

80. St. Bartholomew. Giotto.

81. St. Thomas. Raphael.

82. St. James Minor. L. van Leydcn.

83. St. Matthias. Baphael.

84. Angel swinging the Censer. Albert DUrer.

85. St. Jerome doing Penance. Titian.

86. St. Jerome. Raphael.

87. St. Jerome healing the Lion. GolV Antonio da Fiore.

88. Venetian St Jerome.

89. The Vision of St. Augustine. Murillo.

90. * La Penitence de St. Jean Chrysostome.' Albert Diir&i\

91. St. Mary Magdalene. Statue. Donatello.

92. St. Mary Magdalene. L. van Leyden.

93. St. Mary Magdalene. Timoteo delta Vitc.

94. St Mary Magdalene. Murillo.

95. St. Mary Magdalene. Annibale Caracci.

96. The Assumption of the Magdalene. Albert DUrer.

97. St. Mary of Egypt dying. Pietro da Cortona.

98. Angel. Ra'pJmd.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST VOLUME.

©tct)ing£;*

I. The Assumption of the Magdalene. After Giulio Romano. The Original

Fresco, which is in our National Gallery, was cut from the wall of the
Church of the Trinity de' Monti, at Rome .... Title

II. A Venetian Votive Picture in commemoration of a Pestilence (probably

the pestilence of 1512, in which Giorgione perished). St. Mark, en-
throned as the Patron Saint of Venice, holds his Gospel ; on the right
St. Sebastian and St. Roch, Protectors against the Plague ; on the left,
St. Cosmo and St. Damian, Patron Saints of the Healing Art. Sketch
after Titian. The Original Picture, remarkable for beauty of expression,
and splendour and harmony of colour, in the Church of S. Maria della
Salute, at Venice ........ 22

III. Angels of the Planets. Eaphael. From the fine set of Engravings hy

L. Gruner, after the Frescoes in the Cajppella Chigiana at Rome . . 80

IV. 1. St. Luke painting the Virgin. After the Picture in the Academy of St.

Luke attributed to Raphael. 2. St. Mark attended by St. Gregory,
After Correggio ........ 156

V. The Madonna della Cintola. The Virgin, as she ascends to heaven, pre-
sents her girdle to St. Thomas ; who kneels by the tomb, which is
full of roses. On the other side, the Archangel Michael, in reference to
;^^^^the Legend. From a Picture hy Francesco Granacci in the Florence
' • Gallery . . . . . , . . .248

VI, The Last Supper. 1. After Giotto. 2. After Leonardo da Vinci. 3. After

Raphael, (For this etching I am indebted to IVIr George Scharf.) . 261
viL The Four Latin Fathers. From a Picture by Antonio Vivarini, in the

Academy at Venice ....... 280

VIII. The Five Greek Fathers. Drawing from an Ancient Greek Picture in the

Vatican ......... 32-1

IX. Martha conducts her Sister Mary Magdalene to the Presence of our Lord.

From the Engraving hy Mar^ Antonio, after Raphael . . .381

Laus Deo 1

Jntroliuctton.

i. or the ohigin and general significance of the
Legends represented in Art.

We cannot look round a picture gallery — we cannot turn over a
portfolio of prints after the old masters, nor even the modern
engravings which pour upon us dail}^, from Paris, Munich, or Berlin
— without perceiving how many of the most celebrated productions
of Art, more particularly those which have descended to us from the
early Italian and German schools, represent incidents and characters
taken from the once popular legends of the Catholic Church.
This form of ' Hero- Worship ' has become, since the Reformation,
strange to us — as far removed from our sympathies and associations
as if it were antecedent to the fall of Babylon and related to the
religion of Zoroaster, instead of being left but two or three centuries
behind us, and closely connected with the faith of our forefathers
and the history of civilisation and Christianity. Of late years, with
a growing passion for the works of Art of the Middle Ages, there
has arisen among us a desire to comprehend the state of feeling

VOL. I. A

LEGENDARY ART.

which produced them, and the legends and traditions on which they
are founded ; — a desire to understand, and to bring to some surer
critical test, representations which have become familiar without
being intelligible. To enable us to do this, we must pause for a
moment at the outset; and, before we plunge into the midst of things,
ascend to higher ground, and command a far wider range of illustra-
tion than has yet been attempted, in order to take cognizance of
principles and results which, if not new, must be contemplated in a
new relation to each other.

The Legendary Art of the Middle Ages sprang out of the legend-
ary literature of the preceding ages. For three centuries at least,
this literature, the only literature which existed at the time, formed
the sole mental and moral nourishment of the people of Europe.
The romances of Chivalry, which long afterwards succeeded, were
confined to particular classes, and left no impress on Art, beyond
the miniature illuminations of a few manuscripts. This legendary
literature, on the contrary, which had worked itself into the life of
the people, became, like the antique mythology, as a living soul
diffused through the loveliest forms of Art, still vivid and vivifying,
even when the old faith in its mystical significance was lost or for-
gotten. And it is a mistake to suppose that these legends had their
sole origin in the brains of dreaming monks. The wildest of them
had some basis of truth to rest on, and the forms which they gra-
dually assumed were but the necessary result of the age which pro-
duced them. They became the intense expression of that inner life,
which revolted against the desolation and emptiness of the outward
existence; of those crushed and outraged sympathies which cried
aloud for rest, and refuge, and solace, and could nowhere find them.
It will be said, * In the purer doctrine of the Gospel.' But where
was that to be found ? The Gospel was not then the heritage of the
poor : Christ, as a comforter, walked not among men. His own
blessed teaching was inaccessible except to the learned : it wai^ shut
up in rare manuscripts ; it was perverted and sophisticated by the
passions and the blindness of those few to whom it was accessible.
The bitter disputes in the early Church relative to the nature of the
Godhead, the subtle distinctions and incomprehensible arguments

INTRODUCTION.

of the theologians, the dread entertained "by the predominant Church
of any heterodox opinions concerning the divinity of the Redeemer,
had all conspired to remove Him^ in His personal character of Teacher
and Saviour, far away from the hearts of the benighted and miserable
people — far, far away into regions speculative, mysterious, spiritual,
whither they could not, dared not follow Him. In this state of things,
as it has been remarked by a distinguished writer, * Christ became
the object of a remoter, a more awful adoration. The mind began,
therefore, to seek out, or eagerly to seize, some other more material
beings in closer alliance with human sympathies.' And the same
author, after tracing in vivid and beautiful language the dangerous
but natural consequences of this feeling, thus sums up the result :
' During the perilous and gloomy days of persecution, the reverence
for those who endured martyrdom for the religion of Christ had grown^
up out of the best feelings of man's improved nature. Reverence
gradually grew into veneration, worship, adoration : and although
the more rigid theology maintained a marked distinction between
the honour shown to the martyrs, and that addressed to the Redeemer
and the Supreme Being, the line was too fine and invisible not to be
transgressed by excited popular feeling.' ^

^ We live,' says the j^oet, through admiration, hope, and love.'
Out of these vital aspirations — not indeed always ^ well or wisely
placed,' but never, as in the heathen mythology, degraded to
vicious and contemptible objects — arose and spread the universal
passion for the traditional histories of the saints and martyrs, —
personages endeared and sanctified in all hearts, partly as examples
of the loftiest virtue, partly as benign intercessors between suffer-
ing humanity and that Deity who, in every other light than as a
God of Vengeance, had been veiled from their eyes by the perver-
sities of schoolmen and fanatics, till He had receded beyond their
reach, almost beyond their comprehension. Of the prevalence and
of the incalculable influence of this legendary literature from the
seventh to the tenth century, that is, just about the period when
Modern Art was struggling into existence, we have a most striking
picture in Guizot's ' Histoire de la Civilisation.' ' As after the

^ Miliuan, Hist, of Christianity, iii. 540.

LEGENDARY ART.

siege of Troy (says this philosophical and eloquent writer) there
were found, in every city of Greece, men who collected the tradi-
tions and adventures of heroes, and sung them for the recreation
of the people, till these recitals became a national passion, a
national poetry ; so, at the time of which we speak, the traditions
of what may be called the heroic ages of Christianity had the same
interest for the nations of Europe. There were men who made it
their business to collect them, to transcribe them, to read or recite
them aloud, for the edification and delight of the people. And this
was the only literature, properly so called, of that time.'

Now, if we go back to the authentic histories of the sufferings
and heroism of the early martyrs, we shall find enough there, both
of the wonderful and the affecting, to justify the credulity and
enthusiasm of the unlettered people, who saw no reason why they
should not believe in one miracle as well as in another. In these
universally diffused legends, we may recognise the means, at least
one of the means, by which a merciful Providence, working through
its own immutable laws, had provided against the utter depravation,
almost extinction, of society. Of the ^ Dark Ages,' emphatically so
called, the period to which I allude was perhaps the darkest ; it
was ^ of Night's black arch the key-stone.' At a time when men
were given over to the direst evils that can afflict humanity, — ignor-
ance, idleness, wickedness, misery; at a time when the everyday
incidents of life were a violation of all the moral instincts of man-
kind ; at a time when all things seemed abandoned to a blind
chance, or the brutal law of force ; when there was no repose, no
refuge, no safety anywhere ; when the powerful inflicted, and the
weak endured, whatever we can conceive of most revolting and
intolerable; when slavery was recognised by law throughout
Europe ; when men fled to cloisters, to shut themselves from
oppression, and women to shield themselves from outrage ; when
the manners were harsh, the language gross ; when all the softer
social sentiments, as pity, reverence, tenderness, found no resting-
place in the actual relations of life ; when for the higher ranks
there was only the fierce excitement of war, and on the humbler
classes lay the weary, dreary monotony of a stagnant existence,
poor in pleasures of every kind, without aim, without hope ; then —

INTRODUCTION.

wondrous reaction of tlie ineffaceable instincts of good implanted
within us ! — arose a literature which reversed the outward order of
things, which asserted and kept alive in the hearts of men those
pure principles of Christianity which were outraged in their daily
actions ; a literature in which peace was represented as better than
war, and sufferance more dignified than resistance : which exhibited
poverty and toil as honourable, and charity as the first of virtues ;
which held up to imitation and emulation self-sacrifice in the cause
of good, and contempt of death for conscience' sake ; a literature
in which the tenderness, the chastity, the heroism of woman, played
a conspicuous part; which distinctly protested against slavery,
against violence, against impurity in word and deed ; which refreshed
the fevered and darkened spirit with images of moral beauty and
truth ; revealed bright glimpses of a better land, where ^ the wicked
cease from troubling,' and brought down the angels of God with
shining wings and bearing crowns of glory, to do battle with the
demons of darkness, to catch the fleeting soul of the triumphant
martyr, and carry it at once into a paradise of eternal blessedness
and peace !

Now the Legendary Art of the three centuries which comprise the
revival of learning, was, as I have said, the reflection of this litera-
ture, of this teaching. Considered in this point of view, can we
easily overrate its interest and importance ?

When, after the long period of darkness which followed upon the
decline of the Roman Empire, the Fine Arts began to revive, the first,
and for several ages the only, impress they received was that of the
religious spirit of the time. Painting, Sculpture, Music, and Archi-
tecture, as they emerged one after another from the ' formless void,'
were pressed into the service of the Church. But it is a mistake to
suppose, that in adroitly adapting the reviving Arts to her purposes, in
that magnificent spirit of calculation which at all times characterised
her, the Church from the beginning selected the subjects, or dictated
the use that was to be made of them. We find, on the contrary,
edicts and councils repressing the popular extravagances in this
respect, and denouncing those apocryphal versions of sacred events
and traditions which had become the delight of the people. But vain

LEGENDARY ART.

were councils and edicts ; the tide was too strong to be so checked.
The Church found herself obliged to accept and mould to her own
objects the exotic elements she could not eradicate. She absorbed^ so to
speak, the evils and errors she could not expel. There peems to have
been at this time a sort of compromise between the popular legends,
with all their wild mixture of northern and classical superstitions,
and the Church legends properly so called. The first great object to
which reviving Art was destined, was to render the Christian places
of worship a theatre of instruction and improvement for the people, to
attract and to interest them by representations of scenes, events, and
personages, already so familiar as to require no explanation, appealing
at once to their intelligence and their sympathies ; embodying in
beautiful shapes (beautiful at least in their eyes) associations and
feelings and memories deep-rooted in their very hearts, and which
had influenced, in no slight degree, the progress of civilisation, the
development of mind. Upon these creations of ancient Art we can-
not look as those did for whom they were created ; we cannot annihi-
late the centuries which lie between us and them ; we cannot, in
simplicity of heart, forget the artist in the image he has placed before
us, nor supply what may be deficient in his work, through a reveren-
tially excited fancy. We are critical, not credulous. We no longer
accept this polytheistic form of Christianity ; and there is little
danger, I suppose, of our falling again into the strange excesses of
superstition to which it led. But if we have not much sympathy
with modern imitations of Mediaeval Art, still less should we sympa-
thise with that narrow puritanical jealousy which holds the monu-
ments of a real and earnest faith in contempt. All that God has
permitted once to exist in the past should be considered as the pos-
session of the present ; sacred for example or warning, and held as the
foundation on which to build up what is better and purer. It should
seem an established fact, that all revolutions in religion, in govern-
ment, and in art, which begin in the spirit of scorn, and in a sweeping
destruction of the antecedent condition, only tend to a reaction. Our
puritanical ancestors chopped off the heads of Madonnas and Saints,
and paid vagabonds to smash the storied windows of our cathedrals ;
— now^ are these rejected and outraged shapes of beauty coming back
to us, or are we not rather going back to them ? As a Protestant, 1

INTRODUCTION.

might fear lest in doing so we confound the eternal spirit of Chris-
tianity with the mutable forms in which it has deigned to speak to
the hearts of men, forms which must of necessity vary with the degree
of social civilisation, and bear the impress of the feelings and fashions
of the age which produce them ; but I must also feel that we ought
to comprehend, and to hold in due reverence, that which has once
been consecrated to holiest aims, which has shown us what a magni-
ficent use has been made of Art, and how it may still be adapted to
good and glorious purposes, if, while we respect these time-con-
secrated images and types, we do not allow them to fetter us, but
trust in the progressive spirit of Christianity to furnish us with new
impersonations of the good — new combinations of the beautiful. I
hate the destructive as I revere the progressive spirit. We must
laugh if any one were to try and persuade us that the sun was guided
along his blazing path by ' a fair-haired god who touched a golden
lyre ; ' but shall we therefore cease to adore in the Apollo Belvedere
the majestic symbol of light, the most divine impersonation of
intellectual power and beauty? So of the corresponding Christian
symbols : — may that time never come, when we shall look up to the
effigy of the winged and radiant angel trampling down the brute-
fiend, without a glow of faith in the perpetual supremacy and final
triumph of good over evil !

It is about a hundred years since the passion, or the fashion, fur
collecting works of Art, began to be generally diffused among the rich
and the noble of this land ; and it is amusing to look back and to
consider the perversions and affectations of the would-be connoisseur-
ship during this period; — the very small stock of ideas on which
people set up a pretension to taste — the false notions, the mixture of
pedantry and ignorance, which everywhere prevailed. The publica-
tion of Richardson's book, and Sir Joshua Reynolds's Discourses,
had this advantage, — that they, to a certain degree, diffused a more
elevated idea of Art as Art, and that they placed connoisseurship on
a better and truer basis. In those days we had Inquiries into the
Principles of Taste, Treatises on the Sublime and Beautiful, Anec-
dotes of Painting; and we abounded in Antiquarian Essays on dis-
puted Pictures and mutilated Statues ; but then, and up to a late

LEGENDARY ART.

period, any inquiry into the true spirit and significance of works of
Art, as connected with the history of Religion and Civilisation, would
have appeared ridiculous — or perhaps dangerous : — we should have
had another cry of ' No Popery,' and Acts of Parliament forbidding
the importation of Saints and Madonnas. It was fortunate, perhaps,
that connoisseurs meddled not with such high matters. They talked
volubly and harmlessly of ' hands,' and ^ masters,' and ' schools,' — of
* draperies,' of ' tints,' of ' handling,' — of ' fine heads,' ' fine com-
positions ; ' of the ' grace of Raphael,' and of the ' Correggiosity of
Correggio.' The very manner in which the names of the painters
were pedantically used instead of the name of the subject, is indica-
tive of this factitious feeling ; the only question at issue was, whether
such a picture was a genuine 'Raphael?' such another a genuine
' Titian ? ' The spirit of the work — whether tkat was genuine ; how
far it was influenced by the faith and the condition of the age which
produced it ; whether the conception was properly characteristic, and
of what it was characteristic — of the subject ? or of the school ? or of
the time ? — whether the treatment corresponded to the idea within
our own souls, or was modified by the individuality of the artist, or
by received conventionalisms of all kinds? — these were questions
which had not then "occurred to any one ; and I am not sure that we
are much wiser even now : yet, setting aside all higher considera-
tions, how can we do common justice to the artist, unless we can
bring his work to the test of truth ? and how can we do this, unless
we know what to look for, what was intended as to incident,
expression, character ? One result of our ignorance has been the
admiration wasted on the flimsy mannerists of the later ages of Art ;
men who apparently had no definite intention in anything they did,
except a dashing outline, or a delicate finish, or a striking and
attractive management of colour.

It is curious, this general ignorance with regard to the subjects of
Mediaeval Art, more particularly now that it has become a reigning
fashion among us. We find no such ignorance with regard to the
subjects of Classical Art, because the associations connected with
them form a part of every liberal education. Do we hear any one
Fay, in looking at Annibal Caracci's pictures in the National Gallery,

INTRODUCTION.

* Which is Silenus, and which is Apollo?' Who ever confounds a
Yenus with a Minerva, or a Vestal with an Amazon ; or would
endure an undraped Juno, or a beardless Jupiter ? Even the gardener
in Zeluco knew Neptune by his ^fork,' and Vulcan by his ^lame leg.'
We are indeed so accustomed, in visiting the churches and the galleries
abroad, and the collections at home, to the predominance of sacred
subjects, that it has become a mere matter of course, and excites no
particular interest and attention. We have heard it all accounted
for by the fact that the Church and Churchmen were the first, and for
a long time the only, patrons of Art. In every sacred edifice, and
in every public or private collection enriched from the plunder of
sacred edifices, we look for the usual proportion of melancholy martyr-
doms and fictitious miracles, — for the predominance of Madonnas
and Magdalenes, St. Catherines and St. Jeromes; but why these
should predominate, why certain events and characters from the Old
and the New Testament should be continually repeated, and others
comparatively neglected ; whence the predilection for certain legend-
ary personages, who seemed to be multiplied to infinity, and the
rarity of others ; — of this we know nothing.

We have learned, perhaps, after running through half the galleries
and churches in Europe, to distinguish a few of the attributes and
characteristic figures which meet us at every turn, yet without any
clear idea of their meaning, derivation, or relative propriety. The
palm of victory, we know, designates the martyr triumphant in death.
We so far emulate the critical sagacity of the gardener in Zeluco
that we have learned to distinguish St. Laurence by his gridiron,
and St. Catherine by her wheel. We are not at a loss to recognise
the Magdalene's ' loose hair and lifted eye,' even when without her
skull and her vase of ointment. We learn to know St. Francis by his
brown habit and shaven crown and wasted ardent features : but how
do we distinguish him from St. Anthony or St. Dominick? As for
St. George and the Dragon — from the St. George of the Louvre, —
Raphael's , — who sits his horse with the elegant tranquillity of one
assured of celestial aid, down to him ' who swings on a sign-post at
mine hostess's door,' — he is our familiar acquaintance. But who is
that lovely being in the first blush of youth, who, bearing aloft the
symbolic cross, stands with one foot on the vanquished dragon ?

VOL. I. B

5^

10 LEGENDARY ART.

' That is a copy after Raphael.' And who is that majestic creature
holding her palm branch, while the unicorn crouches at her feet ?
' That is the famous Moretto at Vienna.' Are w^e satisfied ? — not in
the least I but we try to look wiser, and pass on.

In the old times the painters of these legendary scenes and subjects
could always reckon securely on certain associations and certain sym-
pathies in the minds of the spectators. We have outgrown these
associations, we repudiate these sympathies. We have taken these
works from their consecrated localities, in which they once held each
their dedicated place, and we have hung them in our drawing-rooms
and our dressing-rooms, over our pianos and our side-boards — and
now what do they say to us? That Magdalene, weeping amid her
hair, who once spoke comfort to the soul of the fallen sinner, — that
Sebastian, arrow-pierced, whose upward ardent glance spoke of
courage and hope to the tyrant-ridden serf, — that poor tortured slave,
to whose aid St. Mark comes sweeping down from above, — can they
speak to us of nothing save flowing lines and correct drawing and
gorgeous colour? Must we be told that one is a Titian, the other
a Guido, the third a Tintoret, before we dare to melt in compassion
or admiration ? — or the moment we refer to their ancient religious
signification and influence, must it be with disdain or with pity ?
This, as it appears to me, is to take not a rational, but rather a most
irrational as well as a most irreverent, view of the question ; it is to
confine the pleasure and improvement to be derived from works of
Art within very narrow bounds ; it is to seal up a fountain of the
richest poetry, and to shut out a thousand ennobling and inspiring
thoughts. Happily there is a growing appreciation of these larger
principles of criticism as applied to the study of Art. People look
at the pictures which hang round their walls, and have an awakening
suspicion that there is more in them than meets the eye — more than
mere connoisseurship can interpret; and that they have another,
a deeper significance than has been dreamed of by picture dealers
and picture collectors, or even picture critics.

INTRODUCTION. jj

IL Of the Distinction to be drawn between the Devotional
AND THE Historical Subjects.

At first, when entering on a subject so boundless and so diversified,
we are at a loss for some leading classification which shall be
distinct and intelligible, without being mechanical. It appears to
me that all sacred representations, in as far as they appeal to senti-
ment and imagination, resolve themselves into two great classes,
which I shall call the devotional and the historical.

Devotional pictures are those which portray the objects of our
veneration with reference only to their sacred character, whether
standing singly or in company with others. They place before us
no action or event, real or supposed. They are neither portrait nor
history. A group of sacred personages where no action is repre-
sented, is called in Italian a ' sacra conversazione ; ' — the word con-
versazione^ which signifies a society in which there is communion,
being here, as it appears to me, used with peculiar propriety. All
subjects, then, which exhibit to us sacred personages, alone or in
groups, simply in the character of superior beings, must be con-
sidered as devotionally treated.

But a sacred subject, without losing wholly its religious import,
becomes historical the moment it represents any story, incident,
or action, real or imagined. All pictures which exhibit the events
of Scripture story ; all those which express the actions, miracles,
and martyrdoms of saints, come under this class ; and to this dis-
tinction I must call the attention of the reader, requesting that it
may be borne in mind throughout this work.

We must also recollect that a story, action, or fact, may be so
represented as to become a symbol expressive of an abstract idea ;
and some Scriptural and some legendary subjects may be devotional,
or historical, according to the sentiment conveyed : for example,
the Crucifixion and the Last Supper may be so represented as either
to exhibit an event, or to express a symbol of our Redemption.
The Raising of Lazarus exhibits in the Catacombs a mystical em-
blem of the general resurrection ; in the grand picture by Sebastian
del Piombo, in our National Gallery, it is a scene from the life of

LEGENDARY ART.

our Saviour. Amoug the legendarj^ subjects, the Penance of the
Magdalene, and St. Martin Dividing his Cloak, may be merely
incidents, or they may be symbolical, the first of penitence, the
latter of charity, in the general sense. And, again, there are some
subjects which, though expressing a scene or an action, are wholly
mystical and devotional in their import; as the Vision of St.
Augustine, and the Marriage of St. Catherine.

Among the grandest of the devotional subjects, we may reckon
those compositions which represent the whole celestial hierarchy;
the divine personages of the Trinity, the angels and archangels,
and the beatified spirits of the just. Such is the subject called the
' Paradiso,' so often met with in pictures and ecclesiastical decora-
tion, where Christ is enthroned in glory ; such is also the Corona-
tion of the Virgin, that ancient and popular symbol of the triumph
of Religion or the Church ; the Adoration of the Lamb ; and the
Last Judgment, from the Apocalypse. The order of precedence in
these sacred assemblages was early settled by ecclesiastical authority,
and was almost as absolute as that of a modern code of honour.
First after the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, as Regina Angelorum, and
St. John the Baptist; then, in order, the Evangelists; the Patriarchs ,
the Prophets; the Apostles; the Fathers; the Bishops; the Martyrs;
the Hermits ; the Virgins ; the Monks, Nuns, and Confessors.

As examples, I may cite the Paradiso of Angelico, in the
Florence Academy; the Coronation of the Virgin by Hans Hemling,
in the Wallerstein collection, which contains not less than fifty-two
figures, all individualised with their proper attributes ; and which,
if it were possible, should be considered in contrast with the Corona-
tion by Angelico. The Flemish painter seems to have carried his
intense impression of earthly and individual life into the regions of
heaven ; the Italian, through a purer inspiration, seems to have
brought all Paradise down before us upon earth. In the Adoration of
the Lamb by Van Eyck, there are not fewer than two hundred figures.
For the Last Judgment, the grand compositions of Orcagna in the
Campo Santo, — of Luca Signorelli and Angelico at Orvieto, — and the
fresco of Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel, may be consulted.

Where the usual order is varied, there is generally some reason

INTRODUCTION.

13

for it ; for instance, in the exaltation of a favourite saint, as we
sometimes find St. Dominick and St. Francis by the side of St. Peter
and St. Paul; and among the miniatures of that extraordinary MS.,
— the Hortus Deliciarum, now at Strasbourg, painted for a virgin
abbess, — there is a ' Paradiso,' in which the painter, either by her
command or in compliment to her, has placed the virgins immedi-
ately after the angels.

The representation of the Virgin and Child with saints grouped
around them, is a devotional subject familiar to us from its constant
recurrence. It also frequently happens that the tutelary saint of the
locality, or the patron saint of the votary, is represented as seated on
a raised throne in the centre ; and other saints, though under every
other circumstance taking a superior rank, become here accessaries,
and are placed on each side or lower down in the picture : for ex-
ample, where St. Augustine is enthroned, and St. Peter and St. Paul
^tand on each side, as in a picture by B. Yivarini,^ or where St.
Barbara is enthroned, and Mary Magdalene and St. Catherine stand
on each side, as in a picture by Matteo di Siena. ^

In such pictures, the votary or donor is often introduced kneelin^^
at the feet of his patron, either alone or accompanied by his wife and
other members of his family: and to express the excess of his
humility, he is sometimes so diminutive in proportion to the colossal
object of his veneration, as to be almost lost to sight ; we have
frequent examples of this naivete of sentiment in the old mosaics and
votive altar-pieces ; for instance, in a beautiful old fresco at Assisi,
where the Magdalene, a majestic figure about six feet high, holds out
her hand in benediction to a little Franciscan friar about a foot in
height : but it was abandoned as barbarous in the later schools of
Art, and the votary, when retained, appears of the natural size ; as
in the Madonna del Donatore of Raphael,^ where Sigismond Conti is
almost the finest and most striking part of that inestimable picture
and in the Madonna of the Meyer family by Holbein.*

AVhen a bishop is introduced into a group of saints kneeling, while
all the others are standing, he may be supposed to be the Donatore

1 Venice ; SS. Giovanni e Paolo. - Siena ; San Dominico.

• Home; Vatican. * Dresden Gal.

LEGENDARY ART.

or Divoto^ the person who presents the picture. When he is stand-
ing, he is one of the hishop-patrons or bishop-martyrs, of whom there
are some hundreds, and who are more difficult to discriminate than
an}' other pictured saints.

And this leads me to the subject of the so-called anachronisms in
devotional subjects, where personages who lived at different and
distant periods of time are found grouped together. It is curious to
find the critics of the last century treating with pity and ridicule, as
the result of ignorance or a barbarous unformed taste, the noblest
and most spiritual conceptions of poetic Art. Even Sir Joshua
Reynolds had so little idea of the true object and feeling of such
representations, that he thinks it necessary to apologise for the error
of the painter, or the mistaken piety of his employer. We must
remember that the personages here brought together in their sacred
character belong no more to our earth, but to heaven and eternity :
for them there is no longer time or place ; they are here assembled
together in the perpetual ^ communion of saints,' — immortal con-
temporaries in that kingdom where the Angel of the Apocalypse
proclaimed ^ that there should be time no longer.'

Such groups are sometimes arranged with an artless solemnity, all
the personages standing and looking straight out of the picture at
the worshipper. Sometimes there is a touch of dramatic sentiment,
which, without interfering with the solemn devotional feeling, lights
up the whole with the charm of a purpose ; as in the Correggio at
Parma, where St. Jerome presents his translation of the Scriptures
to the infant Christ, while an angel turns the leaves, and Mary
Magdalene, symbol of redemption and reconciliation, bends to kiss
the feet of the Saviour,

Our ancestors of the Middle Ages were not particular in drawing
that strong line of demarcation between the classical, Jewish, and
Christian periods of history, that we do. They saw only Christendom
everywhere ; they regarded the past only in relation to Christianity,
Hence we find in the early ecclesiastical monuments and edifices
such a strange assemblage of Pagan, Scriptural, and Christian
worthies; as, Hector of Troy, Alexander the Great, King David,

INTRODUCTION. 14

Judas Maccabeus, King Arthur, St. George, Godfrey of Boulogne,
Lucre tia, Virginia, Judith, St. Elizabeth, St. Bridget (as iu the
Cross of Nuremburg). In the curious Manual of Greek Art,
published by Didron, we find the Greek philosophers and poets
entering into a scheme of ecclesiastical decoration, as in the carved
stalls in the Cathedral of Ulm, where Solon, Apollonius, Plutarch,
Plato, Sophocles, are represented, holding each a scroll, on which is
inscribed a passage from their works, interpreted into an allusion to
the coming of Christ : and I have seen a picture of the Nativity in
which the sibyls are dancing hand-in-hand around the cradle of the
new-born Saviour. This may appear profane to some, but the com-
prehension of the whole universe within the pale of Christianity
strikes me as being in the most Catholic, as well as in the most
poetical, spirit.

It is in devotional subjects that we commonly find those anthropo-
morphic representations of the Divinity which shock devout people;
and which no excuse or argument can render endurable to those who
see in them only ignorant irreverence or intentional profaneness. It
might be pleaded that the profaneness is not intentional; that emblems
and forms are, in the imitative arts, what figures of speech are in lan-
guage ; that only through a figure of speech can any attempt be made
to place the idea of Almighty power before us. Familiar expressions,
consecrated by Scripture usage, represent the Deity as reposing,
waking, stretching forth His hand, sitting on a throne ; as pleased,
angry, vengeful, repentant; and the ancient painters, speaking the
language proper to their art, appear to have turned these emble-
matical words into emblematical pictures. I forbear to say more
on this point, because I have taken throughout the poetical and not
the religious view of Art, and this is an objection which must be
left, as a matter of feeling, to the amount of candour and know-
ledge in the critical reader.

In the sacred subjects, properly called historical, we must be care-
ful to distinguish between those which are Scriptural, representing
scenes from the Old or New Testament, and those which are Legendary,

Of the first, for the present, I do not speak, as they will be fully
treated hereafter.

16 LEGENDARY ART.

The historical subjects from the lives of the saints consist princi-
pally oi Miracles and Martyrdoms,

In the first, it is worth remarking that we have no pictured
miracle which is not imitated from the Old or the New Testvament
(unless it be an obvious emblem, as where the saint carries his own
head). There is no act of supernatural power related of any saint
which is not recorded of some great Scriptural personage. The
object was to represent the favourite patron as a copy of the great
universal type of beneficence, Christ our Redeemer. And they
were not satisfied that the resemblance should lie in character only ;
but should emulate the power of Christ in His visible actions. We
must remember that the common people of the Middle Ages did not,
and could not, distinguish between miracles accredited by the testi-
mony of Scripture and those which were fabrications, or at least exag-
gerations. All miracles related as divine interpositions were to them
equally possible, equally credible. If a more extended knowledge
nf the natural laws renders us in these days less credulous, it also
shows us that many things were possible, under particular conditions,
which were long deemed supernatural.

We find in the legendary pictures, that the birth of several saints is
announcedby an angel, or in a dream, as in the stories of St. Catherine,
St. Roch, (fee. They exhibit precocious piety and wisdom, as in the
storj^ of St. Nicholas, who also calms a tempest, and guides the
storm-tossed vessel safe to land. They walk on the water, as in the
stories of St. Raymond and St. Hyacinth ; or a river divides, to let
them pass, as in the story of St. Alban. Saints are fed and com-
forted miraculously, or delivered from prison by angels ; or resist
fire, like the ^ Three Children.' The multiplication of bread, and the
transformation of water into wine, are standing miracles. But
those which most frequently occur in pictures, are the healing of
the sick, the lame, the blind; the casting out of demons, the restora-
tion of the dead, or some other manifestation of compassionate
and beneficent power.

Some of the pictured legends are partly Scriptural, partly histori-
cal, as the story of St. Peter; others are clearly religious apologues
founded on fact or tradition, as those of St. Mary of Egypt and St.
Christopher ; others are ob^dously and purely allegorical, as the Greek

INTRODUCTION. |y

Btory of St. Sophia (i.e, Heavenly Wisdom, SO^IA) and her
celestial progeny, St. Faith, St. Hope, and St. Charity, all martyred
by the blind and cruel Pagans. The names sound as if borrowed
from the ' Pilgrim's Progress ; ' and it is curious to find Bunyan's
allegorical legend, the favourite picture-book of the people, ap-
pearing just at the time when the legends and pictures of the
saints became objects of puritanical horror, and supplying their place
in the popular imagination.

Martyrdoms are only too common : they present to us Christianity
under its most mystical aspect — the deification of sufiering ; but to
render these representations effective, they should be pathetic without
being terrible, they should speak to us

Of melanclioly fear subdued by faith.
Of blessed consolations in distress ;

but not of the horrid cruelty of man towards man. It has been well
remarked by my friend M. Rio (to whose charming and eloquent
exposition of Christian Art I refer with ever-new delight), that the
early painters of Western Christendom avoided these subjects, and
that their prevalence in ecclesiastical decoration marked the decline
of religious feeling, and the degeneracy of Art. But this remark does
not apply to Byzantine Art ; for we find from the exact description
of a picture of the martyrdom of St. Euphemia (both the picture and
the description dating from the third century), that such represen-
tations were then common, and were appealed to in the same manner
as now, to excite the feelings of the people.

The martyrdoms generally met with are those of St. Peter and
St. Paul, St. Stephen Protomartyr, St. Laurence, St. Catherine,
and St. Sebastian. These we find everywhere, in all countries and
localities. Where the patron of the church or chapel is a martyr,
his martyrdom holds a conspicuous place, often over the high altar,
and accompanied by all the moving circumstances which can exciie
the pity, or horror, or enthusiasm of the pious votaries ; but in the
best examples we find the saint preparing for his death, not suffering
the torments actually inflicted ; so that the mind is elevated by the
sentiment of his courage, not disturbed and disgusted by the spectacle
of his agonies.

VOL. I. c

LEGENDARY ART.

III. Of certain Patron Saints,

WHO ARE COMMONLY GROUPED TOGETHER IN WORKS OF ART, OR WHO
BELONG TO PARTICULAR COUNTRIES, CITIES, OR LOCALITIES.

While such assemblages of holy persons as are found grouped
together in devotional pictures are to be considered as quite inde-
pendent of chronology, we shall find that the selection has been
neither capricious nor arbitrary, and, with a little consideration,
we shall discover the leading idea in the mind of the artist — that,
at least, which was intended to be conveyed to the mind of the
spectator, and which was much more intelligible in former times
than it is now.

Sometimes we find certain saints placed in companionship, because
they are the joint patrons and protectors of the city or locality for
which the picture was painted. Thus in the Bologna pictures we
constantly find the bishop St. Petronius, St. Eloy, St. Dominick,
and the warrior St. Proculus ; while in the Yenetian pictures we have
perpetual St. Marks, St. Georges, and St. Catherines.

Or, secondly, they are connected by kindred powers and attributes.
Thus we find St. Sebastian, the patron against pestilence, in company
with St. Roch, who ministered to the sick of the plague. Thus St.
Catherine and St. Jerome, the two patrons of school theology, are
often found in companionship. Where St. Catherine and St. Barbara
are found together, the first figures as patroness of the ecclesiastical,
and the second of the military, power — or they represent respectively
the contemplative and the active life.

Or, thirdly, they are combined in the fancy by some inevitable
association ; as St. Augustine and St. Stephen are often in the same
picture, because St. Augustine dedicated some of his most eloquent
works to the glory of the martyr.

Or they were friends on earth, for which reason St. Cyprian and
St. Cornelius are placed together.

Or their relics repose in the same spot ; whence St. Stephen and
St Laurence have become almost inseparable. When St. Vincent and

INTRODUCTION. j^

St. Laurence are placed together (as in a lovely composition of
Parmigiano, where the}^ sit reading out of the same book), it is be-
cause of the similarity of their fate, and that the popular tradition
supposed them to be brothers.

A point of more general importance, and capable of more definite
explanation, is the predominance of certain sacred personages in par-
ticular schools of Art. St. Cosmo and St. Damian, for instance, are
perpetually recurring in the Florentine pictures as the patron saints
of the Medici family. In the Lombard pictures St. Ambrose is often
found without his compeers — not as doctor of the Church, but as
bishop of Milan. In the Siena pictures, we may look for the nun
St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Ansano, the apostle of the Sienese,
holding his banner and palm. And in the Augustine chapels and
churches, St. Augustine figures, not as doctor of the Church, but as
patriarch of the Order.

A bishop-martyr, holding his palm, and not otherwise designated
either by name or attribute, would be — in one of Perugino's pictures,
St. Ercolano or St. Costanzo ; in a Florentine picture, St. Donato or
St. Romulo ; if the picture were painted in the march of Ancona, it
would probably be Sfc ApoUinaris of Ravenna; at Naples it would be
St. Januarius ; at Paris, or in a picture painted for a French church,
of which there are many in Italy, it would be Si. Denis ; and in
German prints, St. Boniface or St. Lambert. I need not further
multiply examples.

If the locality from which the picture came will sometimes deter-
mine the names of the personages, so the personages represented will
often explain the purpose and intended situation of the picture.
There is in Lord Ashburton's gallery a noble group representing
together St. Peter, St. Leonard, St. Martha, and Mary Magdalene.
Such a combination points it out at once as intended for a charitable
institution, and, on inquiry, we find that it was painted for the
chapel of a brotherhood associated to redeem prisoners, to ransom
slaves, to work for the poor, and to convert the sinner to repentance.
Many such interesting and instructive analogies will be pointed out
in the course of the following pages, and the observer of works of
Art will discover others for himself.

20 LEGENDARY ART.

I add here, in alphabetical order, those countries and localities of
which the patron saints are distinguished in works of Art.^

Ancona : St. Cyriacus, Bishop; and his mother Anna, Martyr.

Arezzo : St. Donate, Bishop.

AsTi, NovARA, and all through the cities of Piedmont and the north of Italy,
we find the Warrior j St. Maurice, and his companions St. Secundus, St. Alexander,
and the other Martyrs of the Theban Legion.

Augsburg : St. Ulrich, Bishop ; St. Afra, Martyr.

Austria : St. Leopold, St. Stephen, St. Maximilian, St. Coloman.

Bamberg : St. Henry and St. Cunegunda, Emperor and Empress,

Barcelona : St. Eulalia, Martyr. (In Spanish pictures only.)

Bavaria : St. George, Martyr.

Bergamo : St. Alexander, Warrior; St. Grata, Widow.

Bohemia: St. John Nepomuck, Priest; St. Wenceslaus, King; St. Ludmilla,
Queen ; St. Vitus, young Martyr ; St. Procopius, Hermit.

Bologna: St. Petronius, ^iWiojo; St. D ominick, i^mr; St. Proculus, Warrior
Martyr ; St. Eloy (Eligio), Bishop and Smith.

Brkscia : St. Faustinus and Jovita ; St. Julia, St. Afra, Martyrs.

Bruges : St. John the Baptist.

Burgundy : St. Andrew, Apostle.

Cologne : The Three Kings ; St. Ursula, Virgin Martyr; St. Gereon, Warrior
Martyr.

CoMO : St. Abbondio, Bishop.

CoRTONA : St. Margaret, Mm and Penitent.

Cremona : St. Omobuono, Secular Habit.

Ferrara : St. Geminiano, Bishop; St. George, Martyr; St. Barbara, Martyr.

Fiesole : St. Eomolo, Bishop.

Florence : St. John the Baptist ; St. Zenobio, St. Antonino, Bishops; St. Ee-
parata, Virgin Martyr; St. Cosmo and Damian (the Apothecary Saints^ especial
patrons of the Medici family) ; St. Verdiana, JVun ; St. Miniato, Warrior.

France: St. Michael, Angel; St. Dionysius (Denis), Bishop; St. Genevieve,
Virgin ; St Martin, Bishop.

Genoa : St. George, St. Laurence, Martyrs.

Ghent : St. Bavon, Prince and Hermit.

Grenoble : St. Hugh the Carthusian.

Ireland : St. Patrick, Bishop ; St. Bridget, Abbess.

Lucca : St. Martin, Bishop; St. Frediano, Priest; St. Zita, Virgin.

Liege : St. Hubert, Bishop and Huntsman; St. Lambert, Bishop.

Madrid : St. Isidore, Labourer; St. Dominick, Friar (Patron of the Escurial,
St Laurence).

* The Saints who do not appear in these volumes will be found in the * Legends of the
Monastic Orders.'

INTRODUCTION.

Mantua : St. Andrew ; St. Barbara ; St. George and St. Longinus, Warrior Saints.

Marseilles and all Provence : St. Lazarus ; St. Mary Magdalen ; St. Martha ;
St. Marcella.

Messina : St. Agatha, Martyr.

Milan : St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor; St. Gervasius and St. Protasius,
Martyrs; St. Maurice, St. Victor, Warriors.

Modena : St. Geminiano, Bishop. (In pictures of the Correggio School.)

Naples : St. Januarius, Martyr.

Novara : St. Gaudenzio, Bishop.

NUREMBURG : St. Laurence, Martyr; St. Sebald, Pilgrim and Hermit. (The
latter an important person in pictures and prints of the Albert Diirer school)

Padua : St. Anthony of Padua, Friar.

Paris: St. Genevieve, Virgin; St. Germain, Bishop; St. Hippolitus, Martyr.

Parma : St. John, B. ; St. Thomas the Apobtle; St. Bernard, Monk; St. Hilary
(Uario), Bishop.

Perugia : St. Ercolano and St. Costanzo, Bishops.

Piacenza: St. Justina, Martyr; St. Antoninus, Warrior (Theban Legion).

Piedmont and Savoy : St. John, B. ; St. Maurice and St. George, Warriors ;
St. Amadeus, King.

Pisa: St. Eanieri, Hermit; St. Torpe, Warrior; St. Ephesus and St. Potita,
Warriors. (These only in the ancient Pisan school.)

Eavenna : St. Appolinaris, Bishop.

E.IMINI : St. Julian, Martyr. (A young saint, popular all through the north
and down the east coast of Italy.)

Seville : St. Leander, Bishop ; St, Justina, St. Kufina, Sisters and Martyrs.
(These are only found in Spanish pictures.)

Sicily : St. Vitus, Martyr ; St. Eosalia, Recluse (Palermo) ; St. Agatha (Messina),
St. Lucia (Syracuse), Martyrs.

Sienna: St. Ansano, Martyr; St. Catherine of Siena, Nun; St. Bernardino,
Friar.

Thuringia and all that part of Saxony : St. Elizabeth of Hungary ; St. Boni-
face, Bishop.

Toledo : St. Ildefonso, Bishop ; and St. Leocadia, Martyr, (Only in Spanish
pictures.)

Treviso : St. Liberale, Warrior.

Turin : St. John the Baptist ; St. Maurice, Warrior.

Umbria : All through this region and the eastern coast of Italy, very important
in respect to Art, the favourite saints are — St. Nicholas, Bishop; St Francis of
Assisi, i^Ha?'; St. Clara, Nu7i; St. Julian, ikfarii/r/ and St. Catherine, Virgin Martyr.

Valencia : St. Vincent, Martyr.

Venice : St. Mark, Apostle; St. George, St. Theodore, Warriors; St Nicholas,
Bishop ; St. Catherine, St. Christina, Virgin Martyrs.

Vercelli : St Eusebius, Bishop; St Thronestus, Warrior (Theban Legion).

Verona : St Zeno, Bishop; St Fermo, Martyr; St Euphemia, Martyr,

LEGENDARY ART.

Votive Pictures are those which have been dedicated in certain
religious edifices, in fulfilment of vows ; either as the expression of
thanksgiving for blessings which have been vouchsafed, or pro-
pitiative against calamities to be averted. The far greater number
of these pictures commemorate an escape from danger, sickness,
death ; and more especially, some visitation of the plague, that
terrible and frequent scourge of the Middle Ages. The signifi-
cance of such pictures is generally indicated by the presence
of St. Sebastian or St. Eoch, the patrons against the plague ;
or St. Cosmo and St. Damian, the healing and medical saints;
accompanied by the patron saints of the country or locality,
if it be a public act of devotion ; or, if dedicated by private or
individual piety, the donor kneels, presented by his own patron
saint. In general, though not always, this expressive group is
arranged in attendance on the enthroned Madonna and her divine
Son, as the universal protectors from all evil. Such pictures
are among the most interesting and remarkable of the works of
sacred Art which remain to us, and have often a pathetic and
poetical beauty, and an historical significance, which it is a chief
purpose of these volumes to interpret and illustrate.

IV. Of certain Emblems and Attributes.

To know something of the attributes and emblems of general appli-
cation, as well as those proper to each saint, is absolutely neces-
sary ; but it will also greatly assist the fancy and the memory to
understand their origin and significance. For this reason I will add
a few words of explanation.

The Glory, Nimbus, or Aureole — the Christian attribute of
sanctity, and used generally to distinguish all holy personages — is
of pagan origin. It expressed the luminous nebula (Homer, //.
xxiii. 205), supposed to emanate from, and surround, the Divine
Essence, which stood, 'a shade in midst of its own brightness.'
Images of the gods were decorated with a crown of rays, or with
stars ; and when the Roman emperors assumed the honours due to

INTRODUCTION.

diviuity, they appeared in pablic crowned with golden radii. The
colossal statue of Nero wore a circle of rays, imitating the glory of
the sun. This ornament became customary ; and not only the first
Caesars, but the Christian emperors, adopted the same divine insig-
nia ; and it became at length so common that we find it on some
medals, round the heads of the consuls of the later empire. Con-
sidered in the East as the attribute of power only, whether good or
evil, we find, wherever early Art has been developed under Byzan-
tine influences, the nimbus thus applied. Satan, in many Greek,
Saxon, and French miniatures, from the ninth to the thirteenth
century, wears a glory. In a psalter of the twelfth century, the
Beast of the Apocalypse with seven heads, has six heads surrounded
by the nimbus ; the seventh, wounded and drooping, is without the
sign of power.

But in Western Art the associations with this attribute were not
merely those of dignity, but of something divine and consecrated.
It was for a long time avoided in the Christian representations as
being appropriated by false gods or heathen pride ; and when first
adopted does not seem clear. ^ The earliest example cited is a gem
of St. Martin of the early part of the sixth century, in which the
glory round his head seems to represent his apotheosis ; and in all
instances it is evidently intended to represent divine glory and
beatitude.

The glory round the head is properly the nimbus or aureole. The
oblong glory surrounding the whole person, called in Latin the
vesica piscis, and in Italian the mandorla (almond) from its form,
is confined to figures of Christ and the Virgin, or saints who are
in the act of ascending into heaven. When used to distinguish one
of the three divine persons of the Trinity, the glory is often cruci-
form or triangular. The square nimbus designates a person living
at the time the work was executed. In the frescoes of Giotto at
Assisi, the allegorical personages are in some instances distin-
guished by the hexagonal nimbus. In other instances it is circular.
From the fifth to the twelfth century the nimbus had the form

^ * Avant le 5me si^cie le nimue chrdtieu ae ee voit pas sur les monuments authentiqw^.
(DidroD, Iconographie, p. 101.)

LEGENDARY ART.

of a disc or plate over tlie head.^ From the twelfth to the
fifteenth century, it was a broad golden band, round, or rather
behind the head, composed of circle within circle, often adorned
with precious stones, and sometimes having the name of the saint
inscribed within it. From the fifteenth century it was a bright
fillet over the head, and in the seventeenth century it disappeared
altogether, in pictures the glory is always golden, the colour of
light ; in miniatures and stained glass I have seen glories of various
colours, red, blue, or green. ^

The Fish was the earliest, the most universal, of the Christian
emblems, partly as the symbol of water and the rite of baptism,
and also because the five Greek letters which express the word Fish
form the anagram of the name of Jesus Christ. In this sense we
find the fish as a general symbol of the Christian faith upon the
sarcophagi of the early Christians ; on the tombs of the martyrs in
the Catacombs ; on rings, coins, lamps, and other utensils ; and
as an ornament in early Christian architecture. It is usually a
dolphin, which among the pagans had also a sacred significance.

The passage in the Gospel, * Follow me, and I will make ye
fishers of men,' is supposed to have originated the use of this
symbol ; and I may observe here, that the fish placed in the hands
of St. Peter has probably a double or treble signification, alluding
to his former occupation as a fisherman, his conversion to Chris-
tianity, and his vocation as a Christian apostle, i.e,^ a fisher of men,
in the sense used by Christ ; and in the same sense, we find it
given as an attribute to bishops who were famous for converting
and baptizing, as St. Zeno of Yerona, and Gregory of Tours.

* A metal circle, like a round plate, was fastened on the head of those statues placed in
the open air, to defend them from the rain or dust. Some of the ancient glories are very-
like those plates, but I do not think they are derived from them.

* I believe these coloured glories to be symbolical, but am not sure of the application
of the colours. Among the miniatures of the Horius Dclidarum, painted in 1180, is a
representation of the celestial paradise, in which the virgins, the apostles, the martyrs,
and confessors wear the golden nimbus ; the prophets and the patriarchs, the white or silver
nimbus ; the saints who strove with temptation, the red nimbus; those who were married
have the nimbus green, while the beatified penitents have theirs of a yellowish white, some*
what shaded. (Didron, Iconographie Chr^tienue p. 168.)

INTRODUCTION.

The Cross.— About the tenth century the Fish disappeared, and

the Cross — symbol of our redemption, from the apostolic times

became the sole and universal emblem of the Christian faith. The
cross placed in the hand of a saint is usually the Latin cross (1),
the form ascribed to the cross on which our Saviour suffered.
Other crosses are used as emblems or ornaments, but still having
the same signification : as the Greek cross (2), in which the arms
are all of the same length ; the transverse cross, on which St.

0)

(2)

(4)

Andrew is supposed to have suffered, in this form (3) ; the Egjrp-
tian cross, sometimes placed in the hands of St. Philip the apostle,
and it was also the form of the crutch of St. Anthony, and
embroidered on his cope or robe, hence it is called St. Anthony's
cross (4). There is also the Maltese cross, and various ornamental
crosses. The double cross on the top of a staff, instead of the
crosier, is borne by the Pope only ; the staff with a single cross by
the Greek bishops.

At first, the Cross was a sign only. When formed of gold or
silver, the five wounds of Christ were signified by a ruby or car-
buncle at each extremity, and one in the centre. It was not till
the sixth century that the Cross became a Crucifix, no longer an
emblem, but an image.

The Lamb, in Christian Art, is the peculiar symbol of the
Redeemer, as the sacrifice without blemish ; in this sense it is given
as an attribute to John the Baptist. The lamb is also the general
emblem of innocence, meekness, modesty ; in this sense it is given
to St. Agnes, of whom Massillon said so beautifully, ' Peu de
pudeur, oii il n'y a pas de religion ; peu de religion, ou il n'y a pas
de pudeur.'

VOL. I. D

LEGENDARY ART.

The Pelican, tearing open her breast to feed her young with her
own blood, was an early symbol of our redemption through Christ.

One or both of these emblems are frequently found in ancient
crosses and crucifixes ; the lamb at the foot, the pelican at the top,
of the cross.

The Dragon is the emblem of sin in general, and of the sin of
idolatry in particular ; and the dragon slain and vanquished by the
power of the Cross, is the perpetually recurring myth, which, varied
in a thousand ways, we find running through all the old Christian
legends ; not subject to misapprehension in the earliest times ; but
as the cloud of ignorance darkened and deepened, the symbol was
translated into a fact. It has been suggested that the dragon,
which is to us a phantasm and an allegory, which, in the Middle
Ages, was the visible shape of the demon adversary of all truth and
goodness, might have been, as regards form, originally a fact ; for
«7herever we have dragon legends, whether the scene be laid in
Asia, Africa, or Europe, the imputed circumstances and the form
are little varied. The dragons introduced into early painting and
sculpture so invariably represent a gigantic winged crocodile, that
it is presumed there must have been some common origin for the
type chosen as if by common consent ; and that this common type
may have been some fossil remains of the Saurian species, or even
some far-oif dim tradition of one of these tremendous reptiles sur-
viving in Heaven knows what vast desolate morass or inland lake,
and spreading horror and devastation along its shores. At Aix, a
huge fossilised head of one of the Sauri was for a long time pre-
served as the head of the identical dragon subdued by St. Martha ;
and St. Jerome relates that he had himself beheld at Tyre the bones
Df the sea monster to which Andromeda had been exposed — probably
some fossil remains, which in the popular imagination were thus
accounted for. Professor Owen told me, that the head of a dragon
in one of the legendary pictures he had seen in Italy, closely resem-
bled in form that of the Deinotherium Giganteum. These observa-
tions have reference only to the type adopted when the old Scripture
allegory took form and shape. The dragon of Holy Writ is the same
as the serpent, te., personified sin, the spiritual enemy of mankind.

The Scriptural phrase of the *jaws of hell' is literally rendered in

INTRODUCTION. ^7

the ancient works of Art by the huge jaws of a dragon, wide open and
emitting flames, into which the souls of sinners are tumbled head-
long. In pictures, sin is also typified by a serpent or snake ; in this
form it is placed under the feet of the Madonna, sometimes with an
apple in its mouth ; sometimes, but only in late pictures of the seven-
teenth century, winding its green scaly length round and round a
globe, significant of the subjugation of the whole earth to the power
of sin till delivered by the Redeemer. On this subject I shall have
much more to say when treating of the pictures of the Fall of Man,
and the subjects taken from the Apocalypse : for the present we need
only bear in mind the various significations of the popular Dragon
myth, which may shadow forth the conquest over sin, as in the
legends of St. Michael and St. Margaret ; or over paganism, as in the
legends of St. Sylvester and St. George ; or sometimes a destroying
flood, as in the legend of St. Martha, where the inundation of the
Rhone is figured by a dragon emerging from the waters and spreading
around death and pestilence, — like the Python of the Grecian myth.

The Lion, as an ancient Christian symbol, is of frequent recurrence,
more particularly in architectural decoration. Antiquaries are not
agreed as to the exact meaning attached to the mystical lions placed
in the porches of so many old Lombard churches ; sometimes with
an animal, sometimes with a man, in their paws. But we find that
the lion was an ancient symbol of the Redeemer, ' the Lion of the
tribe of Judah : ' also of the resurrection of the Redeemer ; because,
according to an oriental fable, the lion's cub was born dead, and in
three days its sire licked it into life. In this sense it occurs in the
windows of the cathedral at Bourges. In either sense it may pro-
bably have been adopted as a frequent ornament in the church
utensils, and in ecclesiastical decoration, supporting the pillars in
front, or the carved thrones, &c.

The lion also typifies solitude — the wilderness ; and, in this sense,
is placed near St. Jerome and other saints who did penance, or lived
as hermits in the desert ; as in the legends of St. Paul the hermit,
St. Mary of Egypt, St. Onofrio. Further, the lion as an attribute
denoted death in the amphitheatre, and with this signification is
placed near certain martyrs, as St. Ignatius and St. Euphemia. The

£8 LEGENDARY ART.

lion, as the type of fortitude and resolution, was placed at the feet
of those martyrs who had suffered with singular courage, as St.
Adrian and St. Natalia.^

When other wild beasts, as wolves and bears, are placed at the feet
of a saint attired as abbot or bishop, it signifies that he cleared waste
land, cut down forests, and substituted Christian culture and civilisa-
tion for paganism and the lawless hunter's life : such is the significance
in pictures of St. Magnus, St. Florentius, and St. Germain of Auxerre.

The Hart or Hind was also an emblem of double signification. It
was a type of solitude and of purity of life, and was also a type of
piety and religious aspiration, adopted from the forty-second Psalm,
* Like as the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul
for Thee, 0 God ! '

When the original meaning of the lion, the hart, and other emblems,
was no longer present to the popular mind, legends were invented to
account for them ; and that which had been a symbol, became an in-
cident, or an historical attribute, — as in the stories of the lion healed
by St. Jerome, or digging the grave of St. Paul ; the miraculous stag
which appeared to St. Eustace and St. Hubert ; the wounded doe in
the legend of St. Giles ; and the hind which spoke to St. Julian.

The Peacock, the bird of Juno, was an ancient pagan symbol,
signifying the apotheosis of an empress, as we find from many of
the old Roman coins and medals. The early Christians, accustomed
to this interpretation, adopted it as a general emblem of the mortal
exchanged for the immortal existence ; and, with this signification,
we find the peacock with outspread train on the walls and ceilings
of catacombs, the tombs of the martyrs, and many of the sarcophagi,
down to the fourth and fifth centuries. It is only in modern times
that the peacock has become the emblem of worldly pride.

The Crown, as introduced in Christian Art, is either an emblem or
an attribute. It has been the emblem from all antiquity of victory,

^ In the example of St. Jerome, a lion may have originally typified any hindrance in
the way of atudy or of duty ; in allusion to the text, * The slothful man saith, There is a
lion by the way.' Pro v. xxvi. 13.

INTRODUCTION. 29

and of recompense due to superior power or virtue. In this sense
the word and the image are used in Scripture in many passages :
for example, ' Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of glory.'
And in this sense, as the recompense of those who had fought the
good fight to the end, and conquered, the crown became the especial
synlb6l of the glory of martyrdom. In very ancient pictures, a hand
is seen coming out of heaven holding a wreath or circlet; afterwards
it is an angel who descends with a crown, which is sometimes a
coronet of gold and jewels, sometimes a wreath of palm or myrtle.
In general only the female martyrs wear the symbolical crown of
glory ; martyrs of the other sex hold the crown in their hands, or it
is borne by an angel. Hence we may presume that the crown, which
among the Jews was the especial ornament of a bride, signified the
bride or spouse of Christ — one dedicated to virginity for his sake ;
and in this sense, down to the present time, the crown is placed on
the head of a nun at the moment of consecration. Therefore in the
old pictures of female martyrs we may interpret the crown in this
double sense, as signifying at once the bride and the martyr.

But it is necessary also to distinguish between the symbol and the
attribute: thus, where St. Cecilia and St. Barbara wear the crown, it
is the symbol of their glorious martyrdom ; when St. Catherine and
St. Ursula wear the crown, it is at once as the symbol of martyrdom
and the attribute of their royal rank as princesses.

The crown is also the symbol of sovereignty. When it is placed
on the head of the Virgin, it is as Queen of Heaven, and also as the
' Spouse ' of Scripture allegory.

But the crown is also an attribute, and frequently, when worn by
a saint or placed at his feet, signifies that he was royal or of princely
birth: as in the pictures of Louis of France, St. William, St. Elizabeth,
St. Helena, and many others.

The crowns in the Italian pictures are generally a wreath, or a

simple circle of gold and jewels, or a coronet radiated with a few

80 LEGENDARY ART.

points. But in the old German pictures the crown is often of most
magnificent workmanship, blazing with jewels.

I have seen a real silver crown placed on the figures of certain
popular saints, but as a votive tribute, not an emblem.

The Sword is also eit,her a symbol or an attribute. As a symbol, it
signifies generally a martyrdom by any violent death, and, in this
sense, is given to many saints who did not die by the sword. As an
attribute, it signifies the particular death suffered, and that the
martyr in whose hand or at whose feet it is placed was beheaded :
in this sense it is given to St. Paul, St. Catherine, and many others.
It is given also to the warrior-martyrs, as the attribute of their
military profession. Other symbols of martyrdom are the Axe, the
Lance, and the Club.

Arrows, which are attributes, St. Ursula, St. Christina, and St.
Sebastian.

The Poniard, given to St. Lucia.

The Cauldron, given to St. John the Evangelist and St. Cecilia.

The Pincers and Shears, St. Apollonia and St. Agatha.

Tlie Wheels, St. Catherine.

Fire and Flames are sometimes an emblem of martyrdom and
punishment, and sometimes of religious fervour.

A Bell was supposed to have power to exorcise demons, and for
this reason is given to the haunted St. Anthony.

The Shell signifies pilgrimage.

The Skull, penance.

The Anvil, as an attribute of martyrdom, belongs to St. Adrian
only.

INTRODUCTION.

The Palm, the ancient classical symbol of victory and triumph,
was early assumed by the Christians as the universal symbol of
martyrdom, and for this adaptation of a pagan ornament they found
warrant in Scripture : Rev. vii. 9, ' And after this I beheld, and, lo,
a great multitude stood before the throne clothed with white robes
and with palms in their hands.' . . . 'And he said to me. These
are they which came out of great tribulation.' Hence in pictures
of martyrdoms an angel descends with the palm ; hence it is figured
on the tombs of early martyrs, and placed in the hands of those who
suffered in the cause of truth, as expressing their final victory over
the powers of sin and death.

The sensual think with reverence of the palm
Which the chaste votary wields.

The palm varies in form from a small leaf to the size of a palm
branch, almost a tree. It is very small in the early Italian, pictures,
very large in the Spanish pictures. In the Siena pictures it has a

bunch of dates depending from it. It is only in late pictures that
the palm, with a total disregard to the sacredness of its original
signification, is placed on the ground, or under the feet of the saint.

The Standard, or banner, is also the symbol of victory, the spiri-
tual victory over sin, death, and idolatry. It is borne by our Saviour
after His resurrection, and is placed in the hands of St. George, St.
Maurice, and other military saints ; in the hands of some victorious
martyrs, as St. Julian, St. Ansano, and of those who preached the

88 LEGENDARY ART.

Gospel among infidels ; also in the hands of St. Ursula and St.
Reparata, the only female saints, I believe, who bear this attribute.

The Olive, as the well-known emblem of peace and reconciliation,
is figured on the tombs of the early martyrs ; sometimes with, some-
times without, the dove. The olive is borne as the attribute of peace
by the angel Gabriel, by St. Agnes, and by St. Pantaleon ; sometimes
also by the angels in a l!^ativity, who announce * peace on earth.'

The Dove in Christian Art is the emblem of the Holy Ghost ; and,
besides its introduction into various subjects from the New Testa-
ment, as the Annunciation, the Baptism, the Pentecost, it is placed
near certain saints who are supposed to have been particularly inspired,
as St. Gregory, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Hilarius, and others.

The dove is also a symbol of simplicity and purity of heart, and, as
such, it is introduced into pictures of female saints, and especially
of the Madonna and Child.

It is also the emblem of the soul ; in this sense it is seen issuing
from the lips of dying martyrs, and is found in pictures of St. Eulalia
of Merida, and St. Scholastica the sister of St. Benedict.

The Lily is another, symbol of purity, of very general application.
We find it in pictures of the Virgin, and particularly in pictures of
the Annunciation. It is placed significantly in the hand of St. Joseph,
the husband of the Virgin Mary, his staff", according to the legend,
having put forth lilies; it is given, as an emblem merely, to St.
Francis, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Dominick, and St. Catherine of
Siena, to express the particular purity of their lives.

The Unicorn is another ancient symbol of purity, in allusion to
the fable that it could never be captured except by a virgin stainless
in mind and life; it has become in consequence the emblem peculiarly
oi female chastity, but in Christian Art is appropriate only to the
Virgin Mary and St. Justina.

The Flaming Heart expresses fervent piety and love : in early
pictures it is given to St. Augustine; merely in allusion to a famous

INTRODUCTION.

82

passage in his ' Confessions ; ' but in the later schools of Art it has
become a general and rather vulgar emblem of spiritual love : in this
sense it is given to St, Theresa ; St. Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi, a
Florentine nun ; and some of the Jesuit saints.

The Book in the hands of the Evangelists and the Apostles is an
attribute, and represents the Gospel. In the hand of St. Stephen it
is the Old Testament ; in the hand of any other saint it may be the
Gospel, but it may also be an emblem only, signifying that the saint
was famous for his learning or his writings; it has this sense in
pictures of St. Catherine, the Doctors of the Church, St. Thomas
Aquinas, and St. Bonaventm-a.

A Church placed in the hands of a saint signifies that he was the
founder of some particular church : in this sense St. Henry bears the
cathedral of Bamberg ; or, that he was the protector and first bishop
of the Church, as St. Petronius bears the cathedral of Bologna. I
must except the single instance of St. Jerome ; the church in his
hands signifies no particular edifice, but, in a general sense, the
Catholic Church, of which he was the great support and one of the
primitive fathers; to render the symbol more expressive, rays of
light are seen proceeding from the portal.

The Scourge in the hand of a saint, or at his feet, signifies the
penances he inflicted upon himself j but in the hand of St. Ambrose,
it signifies the penance he inflicted upon others.

The Chalice, or Sacramental Cup, with the Host, signifies Faith ;
it is given to St. Barbara. The Cup, with the Serpent, is the attribute
of St. John.

The Ship. — The Ark of Noah, floating safe amid the Deluge, in
which all things else were overwhelmed, was an obvious symbol of
the Church of Christ. Subsequently the Ark became a ship. St.
Ambrose likens the Church of God to a ship, and the Cross to the
mast set in the midst of it. * Arbor qucedam in navi est crux in
ecclesia.'' The Bark of St. Peter tossed in the storm, and by the

VOL. L E

84 LEGENDARr ART.

Redeemer guided safe to land, was also considered as symbolical.
These mingled associations combined to give to the emblem of the
ship a sacred significance. Every one who has been at Rome will
remember the famous mosaic of the ship tossed by the storms, and
assailed by demons, called The Navicella, which was executed by
Giotto for the old Basilica of St. Peter's, and is now under the Por-
tico, opposite to the principal door. I believe that in the pictures of
St. Nicholas and St. Ursula the ship had originally a sacred and sym-
bolical significance, and that the legends were afterwards invented
or modified to explain the emblem, as in so many other instances.

The Anchor is the Christian symbol of immovable firmness, hope,
and patience ; and in this sense we find it very frequently in the cata-
combs, and on the ancient Christian gems. It was given to several of
the early saints as a symbol. Subsequently a legend was invented to
account for the symbol, turning it into an attribute, as was the case
with the lion and the stag. For example : to St. Clement the anchor
was first given as the symbol of his constancy in Christian hope, and
thence we find, subsequently invented, the story of his being thrown
into the sea with the anchor round his neck. On the vane of the
Church of St. Clement in the Strand, the anchor, the parish device,
was anciently placed ; and as in the English fancy no anchor can be
well separated from a ship, they have lately placed a ship on the
other side — the original signification of the anchor, as applied to St.
Clement the martyr, being unknown or forgotten.

The Lamp, Lantern, or Taper, is the old emblem of piety : ^ Let
your light so shine before men : ' — and it also signifies wisdom. Li
the first sense we find this attribute in the hand of St. Gudula, St.
Genevieve of Paris, and St. Bridget ; while the lamp in the hand of
St. Lucia signifies celestial light or wisdom.

Flowers and Fruits, often so beautifully introduced into ecclesi-
astical works of Art, may be merely ornamental ; Crivelli, and some
of the Venetian and Lombard painters, were fond of rich festoons of
fruit, and backgrounds of foliage and roses. But in some instances
they have a definite significance. Roses are symbolical in pictures

INTRODUCTION.

of the Madonna, who is the 'Rose of Sharon.^^ The wreath of roses
on the brow of St. Cecilia, the roses and fruits borne by St. Dorothea,
are explained by the legends.

The apple was the received emblem of the Fall of man and original
sin. Placed in pictures of the Madonna and Child, either in the
hand of the infant Christ, or presented by an angel, it signified
Redemption from the consequences of the Fall. The pomegranate,
bursting open, and the seeds visible, was an emblem of the future —
of hope in immortality. When an apple, a pear, or a pomegranate
is placed in the hand of St. Catherine as the mystical Sposa of Christ,
which continually occurs, particularly in the German pictures, the
allusion is to be taken in the Scriptural sense : ' ThQ fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace/

►

V. Of the Significance of Colours.

In very early Art we find colours used in a symbolical or mystic
sense, and, until the ancient principles and traditions were wholly
worn out of memory or set aside by the later painters, certain colours
were appropriate to certain subjects and personages, and could not
arbitrarily be applied or misapplied. In the old specimens of
stained glass we find these significations scrupulously attended to.
Thus :—

White, represented by the diamond or silver, was the emblem of
light, religious purity, innocence, virginity, faith, joy, and life.
Oar Saviour wears white after His resurrection. In the judge it in-
dicated integrity ; in the rich man humility ; in the woman chastity.
It was the colour consecrated to the Virgin, who, however, never
wears white except in pictures of the Assumption. •

Eed, the ruby, signified fire, divine love, the Holy Spirit, heat, or
the creative power, and royalty. White and red roses expressed

^ Vide * Legends of the Madonna.'

88 LEGENDARY ART.

love and innocence, or love and wisdom, as in the garland with which
the angel crowns St. Cecilia. In a bad sense, red signified blood,
war, hatred, and punishment. Red and black combined were the
colours of purgatory and the Devil.

Blue, or the sapphire, expressed heaven, the firmament, truth,
constancy, fidelity. Christ and the Virgin wear the red tunic and the
blue mantle, as signifying heavenly love and heavenly truth. -^ The
same colours were given to St. John the evangelist, with this dif-
ference,— that he wore the blue tunic and the red mantle ; in later
pictures the colours are sometimes red and green.

Yellow, or gold, was the symbol of the sun ; of the goodness of
God ; initiation, or marriage ; faith, or fruitfulness. St. Joseph, the
husband of the Virgin, wears yellow. In pictures of the apostles,
St. Peter wears a yellow mantle over a blue tunic. In a bad sense,
yellow signifies inconstancy, jealousy, deceit; in this sense it is given
to the traitor Judas, who is generally habited in dirty yellow.

Green, the emerald, is the colour of spring ; of hope, particularly
hope in immortality ; and of victory, as the colour of the palm and
the laurel.

Violet, the amethyst, signified love and truth : or passion and
sufi'ering. Hence it is the colour often worn by the martyrs. In
some instances our Saviour, after His resurrection, is habited in a
violet instead of a blue mantle. The Virgin also wears violet after
the crucifixion. Mary Magdalene, who as patron saint wears the red
robe, as penitent wears violet and blue, the colours of sorrow and of
constancy. In the devotional representation of her by Timoteo della
Vite,^ she wears red and green, the colours of love and hope.

Grey, the colour of ashes, signified mourning, humility, and inno-

^ In the Spanish schools the colour of our Saviour's mantle is generally a deep rich
violet. 2 Bologna Gal.

»

INTRODUCTIOIf.

87

cence accused ; hence adopted as the dress of the Franciscans (the
Grey Friars); but it has since been chang-ed for a dark rusty brown.

Black expressed the earth, darkness, mourning, wickedness, nega-
tion, death ; and was appropriate to the Prince of Darkness. In some
old illuminated MSS., Jesus, in the Temptation, wears a black robe.
White and black together signified purity of life, and mourn-
ing or humiliation; hence adopted by the Dominicans and the
Carmelites.

The mystical application of attributes and colours was more parti-
cularly attended to in that class of subjects I have distinguished as
devotionaL In the sacred historical pictures we find that the attri-
butes are usually omitted as superfluous, and characteristic propriety
of colour often sacrificed to the general effect.

These introductory observations and explanations will be found
illustrated in a variety of forms as we proceed ; and readers will be
led to make comparisons and discover analogies and exceptions for
themselves. I must stop here ; — ^yet one word more.

All the productions of Art, from the time it has been directed
and developed by Christian influences, may be regarded under three
different aspects. 1. The purely religious aspect, w^hich belongs to
one mode of faith ; 2. The poetical aspect, which belongs to all ; 3.
The artistic, which is the individual point of view, and has reference
only to the action of the intellect on the means and material employed.
There is pleasure, intense pleasure, merely in the consideration of Art
as Art ; in the faculties of comparison and nice discrimination, brought
to bear on objects of beauty ; in the exercise of a cultivated and re-
fined taste on the productions of mind in any form whatever. But a
three-fold, or rather a thousand-fold, pleasure is theirs who to a sense
of the poetical unite a sympathy with the spiritual in Art, and who
combine with delicacy of perception, and technical knowledge, more
elevated sources of pleasure, more variety of association, habits of more
excursive thought. Let none imagine, however, that, in placing
before the uninitiated these unpretending volumes, I assume any such
superiority as is here implied. Like a child that has sprung on a little

LEGENDARY ART.

way before its playmates, and caught a glimpse through an opening
portal of some varied Eden within, all gay with flowers and musical
with birds, and haunted by divine shapes which beckon onward ; and,
after one rapturous survey, runs back and catches its companions by
the hand and hurries them forwards to share the new-found pleasure,
the yet unexplored region of delight ; even so it is with me : — I am
on the outside, not the inside^ of the door I open.

Aft^j Gaudenzio Ferrari, at Saronno.

PART I,

Ye too must fly before a chasing hand,

Angels and saints in every hamlet mourned !

Ah ! if the old idolatry be spurned,

Let not your radiant shapes desert the land !

Her adoration was not your demand, —

The fond heart proffered it, — the servile heart.

And therefore are ye summoned to depart ;

Michael, and thou St. George, whose flaming brand

The Dragon quelled ; and valiant Margaret,

Whose rival sword a like opponent slew ;

And rapt Cecilia, seraph-haunted queen

Of harmony ; and weeping Magdalene,

Who in the penitential desert met

Gales sweet as those that over Eden blew 1 — WORDSWORTH.

*I can just remember,' says a theologian of the last century, ' when the women first
taught me to say my prayers, I used to have an idea of a venerable old man, of a composed,
benign countenance, with his own hair, clad in a morning gown of a grave-coloured
flowered damask, sitting in an elbow chair.' And he proceeds to say that, in looking back
to these beginnings, he is in no way disturbed at the grossness of his infant theology. The
image thus shaped by the imagination of the child was, in truth, merely one example of the
various forms and conceptions fitted to divers states and seasons, and orders and degrees, of
the religious mind, whether infant or adult, which represent the several approximations
such minds at such seasons can respectively make to the completeness of faith. These
imperfect ideas should be held to be reconciled and comprehended in that completeness, not
rejected by it ; and the nearest approximation which the greatest of human minds can ac-
complish is surely to be regarded as much nearer to the imperfection of an infantine notion
than to the fulness of truth. The gown of flowered damask and the elbow-chair may
disappear ; the anthropomorphism of childhood may give place to the divine incarnation of
the Second Person in after years ; and we may come to conceive of the Deity as Milton did
when his epithets were most abstract : —

* So spake the Sovran Presence.

But after all, these are but different grades of imperfection in the forms of doctrinal faith ;
and if there be a devouter love on the part of the child for what is pictur'id in bis imagina-
tion as a venerable old man, than in the philosophic poet for the * Sovran Presence,' the
child's faith has more of the efficacy of religious truth in it than the poet's and philosopher's.
^iVide 'Notes on Life,' by Henuy Taylor, p. 136.)

Gloria iu excelsis Deo !

#f angete antr arci)angel£;*

I. The Angels.

There is something so very attractive and poetical, as well as soothing
to our helpless finite nature, in all the superstitions connected with
the popular notion of Angels, that we cannot wonder at their preval-
ence in the early ages of the world. Those nations who acknowledged
one Almighty Creator, and repudiated witn horror the idea of a
plurality of Gods, were the most willing to accept, the most enthu-
siastic in accepting, these objects of an intermediate homage ; and
gladly placed between their humanity and the awful supremacy of an
unseen God, the ministering spirits who were the agents of His will,
the witnesses of His glory, the partakers of His bliss, and who in
their preternatural attributes of love and knowledge filled up that
vast space in the created universe which intervened between mortal
man and the infinite, omnipotent Lord of All.

VOL. 1, ^

42 LEGENDARY ART.

The belief in these superior beings, dating from immemorial
antiquity, interwoven as it should seem with our very nature, and
authorised by a variety of passages in Scripture, has descended to
our time. Although the bodily forms assigned to them are allowed
to be impossible, and merely allegorical, although their supposed
functions as rulers of the stars and elements have long been set aside
by a knowledge of the natural laws, still the co-existence of many
orders of beings superior in nature to ourselves, benignly interested
in our welfare, and contending for us against the powers of evil,
remains an article of faith. Perhaps the belief itself, and tl!fe ieeling
it excites in the tender and contemplative mind, were never more
beautifully expressed than by ee¥-ow» Spenser : —

And is there care in heaven ? And is there love '

In heavenly spirits to these creatures base,

That may compassion of their evils move ?

There is ! — else much more wretched were the caf39

Of men than beasts ! But ob, th' exceeding grace

Of highest God that loves His creatures so,

And all His works with mercy doth embrace,

That blessed angels He sends to and fro

To serve to wicked man, to serve His wicked foe.

How oft do they their silver bowers leave,

And come to succour us that succour want ?

How oft do they with golden pinions cleave

The flitting skies, like flying pursuivant,

Against foul fiends, to aid us militant ?

They for us fight, they watch, and duly ward,

And their bright squadrons round about us plant.

And all for love, and nothing for reward !

Oh, why should heavenly God to men have such regard !

It is this feeling, expressed or unexpressed, lurking at the very
core of all hearts, which renders the usual representations of angels,
inspite of all incongruities of form, so pleasing to the fancy : we over-
look the anatomical solecisms, and become mindful only of that
emblematical significance which through its humanity connects it
with us, and through its supernatural appendages connects us with
heaven.

But it is necessary to give a brief summary of the Scriptural and

ANGELS. 43

theological authorities, relative to the nature and functions of angels,
before we can judge of the manner in which these ideas have been
attended to and carried out in the artistic similitudes. Thus angels
are represented in the Old Testament —

J . As beings of a higher nature than men, and gifted with superior
intelligence and righteousness.^

2. As a host of attendants surrounding the throne of God, and as
a kind of celestial court or council.^

3. As messengers of His will conveyed from heaven to eartli : or
as sent to guide, to correct, to instruct, to reprove, to console.

4. As protecting the pious.

0. As punishing by command of the Most High the wicked and
disobedient.^

6. As having the form of men ; as eating and drinking.

7. As wielding a sword.

8. As having power to slay.*

I do not recollect any instance in which angels are represented in
Scripture as instigated by human passions ; they are merely the agents
of the mercy or the wrath of the Almighty.

After the period of the Captivity, the Jewish ideas concerning
angels were considerably extended and modified by an admixture of
the Chaldaic belief, and of the doctrines taught by Zoroaster.^ It
is then that we first hear of good and bad angels, and of a fallen
angel or impersonation of evil, busy in working mischief on earth
and counteracting good ; also of archangels, who are alluded to by
name ; and of guardian angels assigned to nations and individuals ;
and these foreign ideas concerning the spiritual world, accepted and
promulgated by the Jewish doctors, pervade the whole of the New
Testament, in which angels are far more familiar to us as agents,
more frequently alluded to, and more distinctly brought before us,
than in the Old Testament. For example : thej^ are represented —

1 2 Sam. xiv. 17.

^ Gen. xxxii. 1, 2; Ps. ciii. 21 ; 1 Kings xxii. 19; Job i. 6.

^ Gen. xxii. 11 ; Exod. xiv. 19; Num. xx. 16 ; Gen. xxi. 17; Judg. xiii. 3 ; 2 Kinga
i. 3 ; Ps. xxxiv. 7 ; Judith xiii. 20.

•* 2 Sam. xxiv. 16 ; 2 Kings xix. 35; Gen. xviii. 8; Num. xxii. 31 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 16?
Gen. xix. 13.

* Calmet.

LEGENDARY ART.

1. As countless.

2. As superior to all human wants and weaknesses.

3. As the deputed messengers of God.

4. They rejoice over the repentant sinner. They take deep interest
in the mission of Christ.

5. They are present with those who pray ; they bear the souls of
the just to heaven.

6. They minister to Christ on earth, and will be present at His
second coming.-^

In the Gospel of St. John, which is usually regarded as the fullest
and most correct exposition of the doctrines of Christ, angels are only
three times mentioned, and in none of these instances does the word
angel fall from the lips of Christ. On the other hand, the writings
of St. Paul, who was deeply versed in all the learning and philosophy
of the Jews, abound in allusions to angels, and according to the
usual interpretation of certain passages, he shows them divided into
several classes.'^ St. Luke, who was the friend and disciple of St.
Paul, some say his convert, is more direct and explicit on the subject
of angels than any of the other Evangelists, and his allusions to
them much more frequent.

The worship of angels, which the Jews brought from Chaldea, was
early introduced into the Christian Church. In the fourth century
the council of Laodicea published a decree against places of worship
dedicated to angels under names which the Church did not recognise.
But neither warning nor council seems to have had power to modify
the popular creed, countenanced as it was by high authority. All the
Fathers are unanimous as to the existence of angels good and evil.
They hold that it is evermore the allotted task of good angels to de-
fend us against evil angels, and to carry on a daily and hourly combat
against our spiritual foes : they teach that the good angels are worthy
of all reverence as the ministers of God and as the protectors of the
human race; that their intercession is to be invoked, and their

1 Matt. xxvi. 53 ; Heb. xii. 22 ; Matt, xxii. 30 ; Luke xx. 36 ; Matt. xix. 24 ; Luke i. 11 ;
Acts V. 19, ct passim ; Luke xv. 10 ; 1 Peter i. 12 ; Luke xvi. 22 : Heb. i. 14; 1 Cor. xi.
10 ; Matt. i. 20, xvi. 27, xxv. 31.

- Kom. viii. 38 ; Col. i. 16 ; Ephes. i 21.

ANGELS. 45

perpetual, imdsible presence to be regarded as an incitement to good
and a preventive to evil.

This, however, was not enough. Taking for their foundation a
few Scripture texts, and in particular the classification of St. Paul,
the imaginative theologians of the Middle Ages ran into all kinds
of extravagant subtleties regarding the being, the nature, and the
functions of the different orders of angels. Except as far as they
have been taken as authorities in Art, I shall set aside these fanci-
ful disquisitions, of which a mere abstract would fill volumes.
For our present purpose it is sufficient to bear in mind that the
great theologians divide the angelic host into three hierarchies, and
these again into nine choirs, three in each hierarchy : according to
Dionysius the Areopagite, in the following order : 1. Seraphim,
Cherubim, Thrones. 2. Dominations, Virtues, Powers. 3. Prince-
doms, Archangels, Angels. The order of these denominations is
not the same in all authorities : according to the Greek formula,
St. Bernard, and the Legenda Aurea, the Cherubim precede the
Seraphim, and in the hymn of St. Ambrose they have also the preced-
ence— To Thee, Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry, &c. ; but
the authority of St. Dionysius seems to be admitted as paramount,
for, according to the legend, he was the convert and intimate friend
of St. Paul, and St. Paul, who had been transported to the seventh
heaven, had made him acquainted with all he had there beheld.

Desire
In Dionysius so intensely wrought
That he, as I have done, ranged them, and named
Their orders, marshalled in his thought ;
For he had learned
Both this and much beside of these our orbs
From an eye-witness to Heaven's mysteries. — Dante, Par. 23.

The first three choirs receive their glory immediately from God, and
transmit it to the second; the second illuminate the third; the third
are placed in relation to the created universe and man. The first
Hierarchy are as councillors ; the second as governors ; the third as
minis^^ters. The Seraphim are absorbed in perpetual love and adora-
tion immediately round the throne of God. The Cherubim know and

LEGENDARY ART.

worship. The Thrones sustain the seat of the Most High. The
Dominations, Virtues, Powers, are the Regents of stars and
elements. The three last orders. Princedoms, Archangels, and
Angels, are the protectors of the great Monarchies on earth, and the,
executors of the will of God throughout the universe.

The term angels is properly applied to all these celestial beings; but
it belongs especially to the two last orders, who are brought into imme-
diate communication with the human race. The w^ord angel, Greek in
its origin, signifies a messenger, or more literally, a bring er of tidings.
In this sense the Greeks entitle Christ, ' The great Angel of the
will of God ; ' and I have seen Greek representations of Christ with
wings to His shoulders. John the Baptist is also an angel in this
sense ; likewise the Evangelists ; all of whom, as I shall show here-
after, bear, as celestial messengers, the angel- wings.

In ancient pictures and illuminations which exhibit the glorifica-
tion of the Trinity, Christ, or the Virgin,
the hierarchies of angels are represented in
circles around them, orb within orb. This
is called a glory of angels. In pictures
it is seldom complete : instead of nine
circles," the j)ainters content themselves with
one or two circles only. The innermost
circles, the Seraphim and the Cherubim,
are in general represented as heads merely,
with two or four or six wings, and of a
bright red or blue colour ; sometimes with
variegated wings, green, yellow, violet, (fee.
This emblem — intended to shadow forth to
imman comprehension a pure spirit glowing
with love and intelligence, in which all that
is bodily is put away, and only the head,
the seat of soul, and wings, the attribute of
spirit and swiftness, retained — is of Greek
origin. When first adopted I do not know, but I have met with it in
Greek MSS. of the ninth century. Down to the eleventh century
the faces were human, but not childish ; the infant head was afterwards
adoi)ted to express innocence in addition to love and intelligence.

4 Greek Seraph : wings of gold
and crimson. (Ninth century )

ANGELS.

Cherubim, Italian. (Fourteenth century. )

Cherub Heads.

Such was the expressive and poetical symbol wliich degenerated
in the later periods of Art into ^, f\ /))

those little fat baby heads, with

curly hair and small wings under
the chin, which the more they re-
semble nature in colour, feature,
and detail, the more absurd they
become, the original meaning
being wholly lost or perverted.

In painting, where a glory of angels is placed round the Divine
Being or the glorified Virgin, those forming the innermost circles
are, or ought to be, of a glowing red, the colour of fire, that is, of
love ; the next circle is painted blue, the colour of the firmament,
or light, that is, of knowledge. Now as the word seraph is derived
from a Hebrew root signifying love, and the word cherub from a
Hebrew root signifying to know, should not this distinction fix
the proper place and name of the first two orders ? It is admitted
that the spirits which love are nearer to God than those which Jmo7v^
since we cannot know that which we do not first love ; that Love and
Knowledge, ' the two halves of a divided world,' constitute in their
anion the perfection of the angelic nature ; but the Seraphim, accord-
ing to the derivation of their name, should love most ; their whole
being is fused, as it were, in a glow of adoration ; therefore they

48 LEGENDARY ART,

should take the precedence, and their proper colour is red. The
Cherubim, ' the lords of those that know/ come next, and are to
be painted blue.

Thus it should seem that, in considering the religious pictures of
the early ages of Art, we have to get rid of certain associations as to
colour and form, derived from the phraseology of later poets and the
representations of later painters. ' Blue-eyed Seraphim,' and the
' blue depth of Seraph's eyes,' are not to be thought of any more
than ^ smiling Cherubim.' The Seraphim, where distinguished by
colour, are red ; the Cherubim blue : the proper character, where
character is attended to, is, in the Seraph, adoration ; in the Cherub,
contemplation. So Milton^ —

With thee bring
Him who soars on golden wing,
The Cherub, Contemplation.

I remember a little Triptyca, a genuine work of Fiesole, in which
one of the lateral compartments represents his favourite subject, tlie
souls of the blessed received into Paradise. They are moving from
the lower part of the picture towards the top, along an ascent paved
with flowers, all in white garments and crowned with roses. At one
side, low down, stands a blue Cherub robed in drapery spangled with
golden stars, who seems to encourage the blessed group. Above are
the gates of heaven. Christ welcomes to His kingdom the beatified
spirits, and on each side stands a Seraph, all of a glowing red, in
spangled drapery. The figures are not here merely heads and wings,
but full length, having all that soft peculiar grace which belongs to
the painter.-^

In a Coronation of the Virgin,^ a glory of Seraphim over-arches the
principal group. Here the angelic beings are wholly of a bright red
colour : they are human to the waist, with hands clasped in devotion :
the bodies and arms covered with plumage, but the forms terminating
in wings; all uniformly red. In the same collection is a small

* I know not whether it be necessary to observe here, that in early Art the souls of the
blessed are not represented as angels, nor regarded as belonging to this order of spiritual
beings, though I believe it is a very common notion that we are to rise from the dead with
the angelic attributes as well as the angelic nature. For this belief there is no warrant in
Scripture, unless Mark xii. 25 be so interpreted.

* Now in the Ccllection of Prince Wallerstein at Kensington Palace.

ANGELS.

49'

Greek picture of Christ receiving the soul of the Virgin ; over His
head hovers a large, fiery-red, six-winged Seraph ; and on each side
a Seraph with hair and face and limbs of glowing red, and with
white draperies. Yasari mentions an Adoration of the Magi by
Liberale of Verona, in which a group of angels, all of a red colour,
stand as a celestial guard round the Virgin and her divine Infant.^

The distinction of hue in the red and blue angels we find wholly
omitted towards the end of the fifteenth century. Cherubim with
blue, red, green, and variegated
wings, we find in the pictures of
Perugino and other masters in the
beginning of the sixteenth century,
also in early pictures of Raphael.
Liberale di Verona has given us, in
a Madonna picture, Cherub heads
without wings, and of a blue colour,
emerging from golden clouds. And
in Raphael's Madonna di San Sisto,
the whole background is formed of
Cherubim and Seraphim of a uni-
form delicate bluish tinge, as if
composed of air, and melting away
into an abyss of golden glory, the
principal figures standing relieved
against this flood of living love and

light — beautiful ! So are the Cherubim with many-coloured wings,
which float in the firmament in Perugino's Coronation of the Virgin ;
but none of these can be regarded as so theologically correct, as the
fiery-red and bright-blue Seraphim and Cherubim, of which are
formed the hierarchies and glories which figure in the early pictures,
the stained glass, the painted sculpture, and the illuminated MSS.
from the tenth to the sixteenth century.

The next ^Ye choirs of angels, the Thrones, Dominations, Prince-
doms, Virtues, Powers, though classed and described with great
exactitude by the theologians, have not been very accurately discrimi-
nated in Art. In some examples the Thrones have green wings, a fiery

1 Vasari, p. 648. Fl. edit.

VOL. I. a

Cherubim. (Liberale di Verona.)

5a

LEGENDARY ART.

8 Part of a Glory of Angels surrounding the figure of Christ in a picture by Ambrogio Borgognone.

aureole, and bear a tlirone in their hands. The Dominations, Virtues,
and Powers, sometimes bear a globe and a long sceptre surmounted
by a cross. The Principalities, according to the Greek formula, should
bear a branch of lily. The Archangels are figured as warriors, and
carry a sword with the point upwards. The angels are robed as
deacons, and carry a wand. In one of the ancient frescoes in the
Cathedral at Orvieto, there is a complete hierarchy of angels, so
arranged as to symbolise the Trinity, each of the nine choirs being
composed of three angels, but the Seraphim only are distinguished by

ANGELS.

their red colour and priority of place. In the south porch of the
Cathedral of Chartres, each of the nine orders is represented by two
angels ; in other instances, one angel only represents the order to
which he belongs, and nine angels represent the whole hierarchy.^
Where, however, we meet with groups or rows of angels, as in the
Greek mosaics and the earliest frescoes, all alike, all with the tiara,
the long sceptre-like wands, and the orb of sovereignty, I believe these
to represent the Powers and Princedoms of Heaven. The Archangels
alone, as we shall see presently, have distinct individual names and
attributes assigned to them.

The angels generally have the human form ; are winged ; and are
endowed with immutable happiness and perpetual youth, because
they are ever in the presence of Him with whom there is no change
and no time. They are direct emanations of the beauty of the Eternal
mind, therefore beautiful ; created, therefore, not eternal, but created
perfect, and immortal in their perfection. They are always supposed
to be masculine ; perhaps for the reason so beautifully assigned by
Madame de Stael, ' because the union of power with purity (la force
aoec la purete) constitutes all that we mortals can imagine of per-
fection.' There is no such thing as an old angel, and therefore there
ought to be no such thing as an infant angel. The introduction of
infant angels seems to have arisen from the custom of representing
the regenerate souls of men as new-born infants, and perhaps also
from the words of our Saviour when speaking of children, ^ I say unto
you, their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in
heaven.' Such representations, when religiously and poetically
treated as spirits of love, intelligence, and innocence, are of exquisite
beauty, and have a significance which charms and elevates the fancy;
but from this, the true and religious conception, the Italian putti
and puttini^ and the rosy chubby babies of the Flemish school, are
equally remote.

1 I saw in the palace of the Bishop of Norwich an elegant little bas-relief in alabaster,
exhibiting the nine choirs, each represented by a single angel. The first (the Seraphim)
hold the sacramental cup ; the Cherubim, a book ; the Thrones, a throne; the Principalities,
a bunch of lilies ; the Archangels are armed. The other attributes are not clearly made out.

The figures have been ornamented with painting and gilding, now partially worn off;
and the style is of the early part of the fifteenth century. It appeared to me to have
formed one of the compartments of an altar-piece.

LEGENDARY ART.

Egyptian winged genius. (Louvre.)

In early Art, the angels in the bloom of adolescence are alwaj^s
amply draped ; at first, in the classical tunic and pallium ; afterwards
in long linen vestments with the alba and stole, as levites or deacons;
or as princes, with embroidered robes and sandals, and jewelled
crowns or fillets. Such figures are common in the Byzantine mosaics
and pictures. The expression, in these early representations, is usu-
ally calm and impassive. Angels partially draped in loose, fluttering,
meretricious attire, poised in attitudes upon clouds, or with features
animated by human passion, or limbs strained by human efi'ort, are
the innovations of more modern Art. White is, or ought to be, the
prevailing colour in angelic draperies, but red and blue of various
shades are more frequent. Green often occurs ; and in the Venetian
pictures, yellow, or rather safi'ron-coloured robes are not unfrequent.
In the best examples of Italian Art, the tints, though varied, are
tender and delicate ; all dark heavy colours and violent contrasts of

ANGELS.

10

Winged figure from Nineveh.

colour are avoided. On the contrary, in the early German school,
the angels have rich heavy voluminous draperies of the most intense
and vivid colours, often jewelled and embroidered with gold. Flight,
in such garments, seems as difficult as it would be to swim in coro-
nation robes.

But, whatever be the treatment as to character, lineaments, or dress,
wings are almost invariably the attribute of the angelic form. As
emblematical appendages, these are not merely significant of the
character of celestial messengers, for, from time immemorial, wings
have been the Oriental and Egyptian symbol of power, as well as of
swiftness ; of the spiritual and aerial, in contradistinction to the
human and the earthly. Thus, with the Egyptians, the winged globe
signified power and eternity, that is, the Godhead ; a bird, with a
human head, signified the soul; and nondescript creatures, with
wrings, abound not only in the Egyptian paintings and hieroglyphics,

B4 LEGENDARY ART.

but also in the Chaldaic and Babylonian remains, in the Lycian and
Nineveh marbles, and on the gems and other relics of the Gnostics.
I have seen on the Gnostic gems figures with four wings, two spring-
ing from the shoulders and two from the loins. This portentous
figure, from the ruins of Nineveh, is similarly constructed. (10.)

In Etruscan Art all their divinities are winged ; and where Yenus
is represented with wings, as in many of the antique gems (and by
Correggio in imitation of them),^ these brilliant wings are not, as
some have supposed, emblematical of the transitoriness, but of the
might, the majesty, and the essential divinity of beauty. In Scrip-
ture, the first mention of Cherubim with wings is immediately after
the departure of the Israelites from Egypt (Exod. xxxi. 2). Bezaleel,
the first artist whose name is recorded in the world's history, and
who appears to have been, like the greatest artists of modern times,
at once architect, sculptor, and painter, probably derived his figures
of Cherubim with outstretched wings, guarding the mercy-seat, from
those Egyptian works of Art with which the Israelites must have
been familiarised. Clement of Alexandria is so aware of the relative
similitude, that he supposes the Egyptians to have borrowed from
the Israelites, which is obviously the reverse of the truth. How far
the Cherubim, which figure in the Biblical pictures of the present day,
resemble the carved Cherubim of Bezaleel, we cannot tell, but pro-
bably the idea and the leading forms are the same : for the ark, we
know, was carried into Palestine ; these original Cherubim were the
pattern of those which adorned the temple of Solomon, and these,
again, were the prototype after which the imagery of the second
temple was fashioned. Although in Scripture the shape under which
the celestial ministers appeared to man is nowhere described, except
in the visions of the prophets (Dan. x. 5), and there with a sort of
dreamy incoherent splendour, rendering it most perilous to clothe the
image placed before the fancy in definite forms, still the idea of
wings, as the angelic appendages, is conveyed in many places dis-
tinctly, and occasionally with a picturesque vividness which inspires
and assists the artist. For instance, in Daniel, ch. vii., * they had
wings like a fowl.' In Ezekiel, ch. i., ' their wings were stretched
upward when they flew ; when they stood they let down their wings : '

1 As in the picture in our National Gallery, No. 10.

ANGELS.

' I heard the noise of their wings as the
noise of great waters : ' and in Zechariah,
eh. v., ' I looked, and behold there came
out two women, and the wind was in their
wings, for they had wings like the wings
of a stork.' And Isaiah, ch. vi., in the
description of the Seraphim, ' Each one
had six wings ; with twain he covered his
face, and with twain he covered his feet,
and with twain he did fly.' By the early
artists this description was followed out
in a manner more conscientious and re-
verential than poetical.

They were content with a symbol. But
mark how Milton, more daring, could paint
from the same orisfinal : —

11 Seraph

(Greek mosaic, Cathedral of Monreale.J

A seraph winged ; six wings he wore to shade
His lineaments divine : the pair that clad
Each shoulder broad, came mantling o'er his breast
With regal ornament ; the middle pair
Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round
Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold
And colours dipped in heaven ; the third his feet
Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail,
Sky-tinctured grain.

I have sometimes thought that Milton, in his descriptions of angels,
was not indebted merely to the notions of the old theological writers,
interpreted and embellished by his own fancy : may he not, in his
wanderings through Italy, have beheld with kindling sympathy some
of those glorious creations of Italian Art, which, when I saw them,
made me break out into his own divine language as the only fit
utterance to express those forms in words? — But, to return — Is it
not a mistake to make the wings, the feathered appendages of the
angelic form, as like as possible to real wings — the wings of storks,
or the wings of swans, or herons, borrowed for the occasion ? Some
modern painters, anxious to make wings look ^ natural,' have done
this ; Delaroche, for instance, in his St. Cecilia. Infinitely more
beautiful and consistent are the nondescript wings which the early

56

LEGENDARY ART.

painters gave tlieir angels : — large — so large, that when tlie glorious
creature is represented as at rest, they droop from the shoulders to
the ground; with long slender feathers, eyed sometimes like the
peacock's train, bedropped with gold like the pheasant's breast,
tinted with azure and violet and crimson, ^ colours dipped in heaven,'
— they are really angel- wings, not bird- wings.

Orcagna's angels in the Campo Santo are, in this respect, peculiarly
poetical. Their extremities are wings instead of limbs ; and in a
few of the old Italian and German painters of the fifteenth century
we find angels whose extremities are formed of light waving folds of
pale rose-colour or azure drapery, or of a sort of vapoury cloud, or,

12

Angels. (Orcagna.)

in some insta;nces, of flames. The cherubim and seraphim which
surround the similitude of Jehovah when He appears to Moses in the

burning bush,^ are an example of the
sublime and poetical significance which
may be given to this kind of treatment.
They have heads and human features
marvellous for intelligence and beauty;
their hair, their wings, their limbs, end
in lambent fires ; they are ' celestial
Ardours bright,' which seem to have
being without shape.

Dante's angels have less of dramatic
reality, less of the aggrandised and
idealised human presence, than Milton's.
They are wondrous creatures. Some of them have the quaint fan-

* Vatican : Raphael's fresco.

Fiery Cherub. (Raphael.)

AXGELS.

87

tastic picturesqueness of old Italian Art and the Albert Diirer school ;
for instance, those in the Purgatorio, with their wings of a bright
green, and their green draperies, Werde come fogliette,' kept in a
perpetual state of undulation by the breeze created by the fanning
of their wings, with features too dazzling to be distinguished :

Ben discerneva in lor la testa bionda,
Ma nelle facce 1' occhio si smarria
Come virtti ch' a troppo si confonda.^

And the Shape, glowing red as in a furnace, with an air from the
fanping of its wings, ^ fresh as the first breath of wind in a May morn-
ing, and fragrant as all its flowers.' That these and other passages
scattered through the Purgatorio and the Paradiso assisted the fancy
of the earlier painters, in portraying their angelic Glories and winged
Beatitudes, I have little doubt; but, on the other hand, the sublime
angel in the Inferno — he who comes speeding over the waters with
vast pinions like sails, sweeping the evil spirits in heaps before him,
^ like frogs before a serpent,' and with a touch of his wand making
the gates of the city of Dis fly open ; then, with a countenance solemn
and majestic, and quite unmindful of his worshipper, as one occupied
by higher matters, turning and soaring away — this is quite in the sen-
timent of the grand old Greek and Italian mosaics, which preceded
Dante by some centuries.^

But besides being the winged messengers of God to man, the
deputed regents of the stars, the rulers of the elements, and the dis-
pensers of the fate of nations, angels have another function in which
we love to contemplate them. They are the choristers of heaven.
Theirs is the privilege to sound that hymn of praise which goes up
from this boundless and harmonious universe of suns and stars and
worlds and rejoicing creatures, towards the God who created them :
theirs is the music of the spheres —

They sing, and singing in their glory move ;

they tune divine instruments, named after those of earth's harmonies —

1 V. Purg. c. viii. ; Par. c. xxxi, ; Purp^. c. xxiv.

2 The Cherubim in the upper lights of the painted windows at St. Michael's, Coventry, and
at Cirencester, are represented each standing on a white wheel with eight spokes. They
have six wings, of peacocks' feathers, of a rich yellow colour. A white cross surmounts the
forehead, and both arms and legs are covered with short plumage. The extremities are
human and bare. At Cirencester the Cherubim hold a book ; at Coventry a scroll.

VOL. I. . ^

08

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

The harp, the solemn pipe
And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop,
All sounds on fret by string or golden wire,

And with songs
And choral symphonies, day without night,
Circle his throne rejoicing.

There is nothing more beautifal, more attractive, iu Art than the
representations of angels in this character. Sometimes they form a
chorus round the glorified Saviour, when, after His sorrow and sacrifice
on earth. He takes His throne in heaven ; or, when the crown is placed
on the head of the Maternal Yirgin in glory, pour forth their triumphant
song, and sound their silver clarions on high : sometimes they stand or
kneel before the Madonna and Child, or sit upon the steps of her throne,
singing, — with such sweet earnest faces ! or playing on their golden
lutes, or piping celestial symphonies ; or they bend in a choir from the
opening heavens above, and welcome, with triumphant songs, the
liberated soul of the saint or martyr ; or join in St. Cecilia's hymn of
praise : but whatever the scene, in these and similar representations,
they appear in their natural place and vocation, and harmonise en-
chantingly with all our feelings and fancies relative to these angelic
beings, made up of love and music.

Angel. (Francia.)

15

Piping Angel. (Giau Bellini.)

Most beautiful examples of this treatment occur both in early paint-
ing and sculpture ; and no one who has wandered through churches
and galleries, with feeling and observation awake, can fail to remember

ANGELS. 59

such. It struck me as characteristic of the Venetian school, that the
love of music seemed to combine with the sense of harmony in colour;
nowhere have I seen musical angels so frequently and so beautifully
introduced : and whereas the angelic choirs of Fiesole, Ghirlaudajo,
and Raphael seem to be playing as an act of homage for the delight
of the Divine Personages, those of Yivarini and Bellini and Palma
appear as if enchanted by their own music ; and both together are
united in the grand and beautiful angels of Melozzo da Forli, parti-
cularly in one who is bending over a lute, and another who with a
triumphant and ecstatic expression strikes the cymbals.^ Compare
the cherubic host who are pouring forth their hymns of triumph,
blowing their uplifted trumpets, and touching immortal harps and
viols in Angelico's ^Coronation, '^ or in Signorelli's ' Paradiso,'^ with
those lovely Venetian choristers, the piping boys, myrtle-crowned,
who are hymning Bellini's Madonna,* or those who are touching the
lute to the praise and glory of St. Ambrose in Vivarini's most beautiful
picture; you will feel immediately the distinction in point of sentiment.
The procession of chanting angels which once surmounted the organ
in the Duomo of Florence is a perfect example of musical angels
applied to the purpose of decoration. Perhaps it was well to remove
this exquisite work of art to a place of safety, where it can be admired
and studied as a work of art ; but the removal has taken from it the
appropriate expression. How they sing! — when the tones of the
organ burst forth, we might have fancied we heard their divine voices
through the stream of sound ! The exquisite little bronze choristers
round the high altar of St. Antonio in Padua are another example ;
Florentine in elegance of form, Venetian in sentiment, intent upon
their own sweet song.

There is a third function ascribed to these angelic natures, which
brings them even nearer to our sympathies ; they are the deputed
guardians of the just and innocent. St. Raphael, whose story I shall
presently relate, is the prince of the guardian angels. The Jews held
that the angels deputed to Lot were his guardian angels.^ The fathers
of the Christian Church taught that every human being, from the

^ In the sacristy of the Vatican. - In the Louvre. •* In the Cathedral at Orvieto.
* In the Frari at Venice. ^ Gen. xviii., xlviii. IG,

60 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

hour of his birtli to that of his death, is accompanied by an angel
appointed to watch over him. The Mahometans give to each of us a
good and an evil angel ; but the early Christians supposed us to be
attended each by a good angel only, who undertakes that office, not
merely from duty to God, and out of obedience and great humility,
but as inspired by exceeding charity and love towards his human
charge. It would require the tongues of angels themselves to recite
all that we owe to these benign and vigilant guardians. They watch
by the cradle of the new-born babe, and spread their celestial wings
round the tottering steps of infancy. If the path of life be difficult
and thorny, and evil spirits work us shame and woe, they sustain
us; they bear the voice of our complaining, of our supplication, of
our repentance, up to the foot of God's throne, and bring us back in
return a pitying benediction, to strengthen and to cheer. When
passion and temptation strive for the mastery, they encourage us to
resist ; when we conquer, they crown us ; when we falter and fail,
they compassionate and grieve over us ; when we are obstinate in
polluting our own souls, and perverted not only in act but in will,
they leave us — and woe to them that are so left! But the good
angel does not quit his charge until his protection is despised,
rejected, and utterly repudiated. Wonderful the fervour of their
love — wonderful their meekness and patience — who endure from day
to day the spectacle of the unveiled human heart with all its miser-
able weaknesses and vanities, its inordinate desires and selfish pur-
poses ! Constant to us in death, they contend against the powers of
darkness for the emancipated spirit ; they even visit the suffering sinner
in purgatory ; they keep alive in the tormented spirit faith and hope,
and remind him that the term of expiation will end at last. So
Dante ^ represents the souls in purgatory as comforted in their misery ;
and (which has always seemed to me a touch of sublime truth and
tenderness) as rejoicing over those who were on earth conspicuous for
the very virtues wherein themselves were deficient. When at length
the repentant soul is sufficiently purified, the guardian angel bears
it to the bosom of the Saviour.

The earlier painters and sculptors did not, apparently, make the
same use of guardian angels that w^e so often meet with in works of
Modern Art. Poetical allegories of angels guiding the steps of child-

^ Purg c. viiL

ANGELS.

hood, extending a shield over innocence, watching by a sick-bed, do
not, I think, occur before the seventeenth century ; at least I have
not met with such. The ancient masters, who really believed in the
personal agency of our angelic guardians, beheld them with awe and
reverence, and reserved their presence for great and solemn occasions.
The angel who presents the pious votary to Christ or the Virgin, who
crowns St. Cecilia and St. Valerian after their conquest over human
weakness ; the angel who cleaves the air ' with flight precipitant ' to
break the implements of torture, or to extend the palm to the dying
martyr, victorious over pain ; the angels who assist and carry in their
arms the souls of the just : are, in these and all similar examples,
representations of guardian angels.

Such, then, are the three great functions of the angelic host : they
are Messengers, Choristers, and Guardians. But angels, without
reference to their individuality or their ministry — with regard only to
their species and their form, as the most beautiful and the most
elevated of created essences, as intermediate between heaven and
earth — are introduced into all works of Art which have a sacred pur-
pose or character, and must be considered not merely as decorative
accessories, but as a kind of presence, as attendant witnesses ; and,
like the chorus in the Greek tragedies, looking on where they are
not actors. In architectural decoration, the cherubim with which
Solomon adorned his temple have been the authority and example.^
* Within the oracle he made two cherubims, each ten cubits high, and
with wings five cubits in length ' (the angels in the old Christian
churches on each side of the altar correspond with these cherubim),
' and he overlaid the cherubims with gold, and carved all the walls of
the house with carved figures of cherubims, and he made doors of
olive tree, and he carved on them figures of cherubims.' So, in
Christian art and architecture, angels, with their beautiful cinctured
heads and outstretched wings and flowing draperies, fill up every
space. The instances are so numerous that they will occur to every
one who has given a thought to the subject. I may mention the frieze
of angels in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, merely as an example at
hand, and which can be referred to at any moment ; also the angels

^ 1 Kings vi. 23.

62

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

round the choir of Lincoln Cathedral, of which there are fine casts
in the Crj^stal Palace at Sj^denham ; and in some of the old churches
in Saxony which clearly exhibit the influence of Byzantine Art — for
instance, at Frej^berg, Merseburg, Naumburg — angels with outspread
wings fill up the spandrils of the arches along the nave.

But, in the best ages of Art, angels were not merely employed as
decorative accessories ; they had their appropriate place and a solemn
significance as a part of that theological system which the edifice, as
a whole, represented.

As a celestial host surrounding the throne of the Trinity ; or of
Christ, as redeemer or as judge ; or of the Virgin in glory ; or the
throned Madonna and Child ; their place is immediately next to the
Divine Personages, and before the Evangelists.

In what is called a Liturgy of Angels, they figure in procession on
MH >^^^^ ^^B^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ choir, so as to have the
appearance of approaching the altar : they
wear the stole and alba as deacons, and
bear the implements of the mass. In the
Cathedral of Rheiins there is a range of
colossal angels as a grand procession along
the vaults of the nave, who appear as
approaching the altar : these bear not only
the gospel, the missal, the sacramental
cup, the ewer, the taper, the cross, &c., but
also the attributes of sovereignty, celestial
and terrestrial : one carries the sun, another
the moon, a third the kingly sceptre, a
fourth the globe, a fifth the sword ; and
all these, as they approach the sanctuary,
they seem about to place at the feet of
Christ, who stands there as priest and king
in glory. Statues of angels in an attitude
of worship on each side of the altar, as if
adoring the sacrifice — or bearing in triumph the instruments of
Christ's passion, the cross, the nails, the spear, the crown of thorns
— or carrying tapers — are more common, and must be regarded not
merely as decoration, but as b. presence in the high solemnity.

Angel bearing the Moon.
(Greek, 12th century.)

ANGELS.

In the Cathedral of Aiixerre maj^ be seen angels attending on the
triumphant coming of Christ ; and, which is most singular, they, as
well as Christ, are on horseback (17).

17

When, in subjects from Scripture history, angels figure not merely
as attendants and spectators, but as personages necessary to the
action, they are either ministers of the divine wrath or of the divine
mercy ; agents of destruction, or agents of help and good counsel.
As all these instances belong to the historical scenes of the Old or
the New Testament, they will be considered separately, and I shall
confine myself here to a few remarks on the introduction and treat-
ment of angels in some subjects of peculiar interest.

In relating " the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise," it is
not said that an angel was the
immediate agent of the divine
wrath, but it is so represented
in works of Art. In the most
ancient treatment I have met
with,^ a majestic armed angel
drives forth the delinquents, and
a cherub with six wings stands
as guard before the gate. I found
the same motif in the sculptures
on the fapade of the Duomo at
Orvieto, by Niccolo Pisano. In
another instance, an ancient
Saxon miniature, the angel is represented not as driving them forth,
but closing the door against them. But these are exceptions to the

^ MS. lOth century, Paris, Bibl. Kationale.

Adam and Eve expelled. (N. Pisano. y

64 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

usual mode of treatment, which seldom varies ; the angel is not
represented in wrath, but calm, and stretches forth a sword which
is often (literally rendering the text) a waving, lambent flame. I
remember an instance in which the preternatural sword, ^ turning
every way,' has the form of a wheel of flames.

An angel is expressly introduced as a minister of wrath in the story
of Balaam, in which 1 have seen no deviation from the obvious prosaic
treatment, rendering the text literally, ' And the ass saw the angel
of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand.'

^ The destroying angel, leaning from heaven, presents to David three
arrows, from which to choose — war, pestilence, or famine.' I have
found this subject beautifully executed in several MSS., for instance,
in the ^ Heures d'Anne de Bretagne ; ' also in pictures and in prints.

' The destroying angel sent to chastise the arrogance of David, is
beheld standing between heaven and earth with his sword stretched
over Jerusalem to destroy it.' Of this sublime vision I have never
seen any but the meanest representations ; none of the great masters
have treated it; perhaps Rembrandt might have given us the
terrible and glorious angel standing like a shadow in the midst of
his own intense irradiation. David fallen on his face, and the sons
of Oman hiding themselves by their rude threshing-floor, with that
wild mixture of the familiar and the unearthly in which he alone has
succeeded.

' The chastisement of Heliodorus ' has given occasion to the
sublimes t composition in which human genius ever attempted to
embody the conception of the supernatural — Raphael's fresco in the
Vatican. St. Michael, the protecting angel of the Hebrew nation, is
supposed to have been the minister of divine wrath on this occasion ;
but Raphael, in omitting the wings, and all exaggeration or altera-
tion of the human figure, has shown how unnecessary it was for kim
to have recourse to the prodigious and impossible in form, in order
to give the supernatural in sentiment. The unearthly warrior and
his unearthly steed — the weapon in his hand, which is not a sword to
pierce, nor a club to strike, but a sort of mace, of which, as it seems,
a touch would annihilate ; the two attendant spirits, who come glid-
ing above the marble floor, with their hair streaming back with the
rapidity of their aerial motion — are in the very spirit of Dante, and,

ANGELS. 65

as conceptions of superhuman power, superior to anything in pictured
form which Art has bequeathed to us.

In calling to mind the various representations of the angels of the
Apocalypse let loose for destruction, one is tempted to exclaim, ' Oh,
for a warning voice I ' When the Muse of Milton quailed, and fell
ten thousand fathom deep into Bathos, what could be expected from
human invention ? In general, where this subject is attempted in
pictures, we find the angels animated, like those of Milton in the war
of heaven, with ^fierce desire of battle,' breathing vengeance, wrath,
and fury. So Albert Diirer, in those wonderful scenes of his
' Apocalypse,' has exhibited them ; but some of the early Italians
show them merely impassive, conquering almost without effort,
punishing without anger. The immediate instruments of the wrath
of God in the day of judgment are not angels, but devils or demons,
generally represented by the old painters with every possible exagge-
ration of hideousness, and as taking a horrible and grotesque delight
in their task. The demons are fallen angels, their deformity a con-
sequence of their fall. Thus, in some very ancient representations
of the expulsion of Lucifer and his rebel host, the degradation of the
form increases with their distance from heaven.^ Those who are
uppermost are still angels ; they bear the aureole, the wings, and the
tunic ; they have not yet lost all their original brightness : those below
them begin to assume the bestial form : the fingers become talons, the
heads become horned ; and at last, as they touch the confines of the
gulf of hell, the transformation is seen complete, from the luminous
angel into the abominable and monstrous devil, with serpent tail,
claws, bristles, and tusks. This gradual transformation, as they de-
scend into the gulf of sin, has a striking allegorical significance which
cannot escape the reader. In a Greek MS. of the ninth century,^
bearing singular traces of antique classical Art in the conception and
attributes of the figures, I found both angels and demons treated in
a style quite peculiar and poetical. The angels are here gigantic,
majestic, Jove-like figures, with great wings. The demons are also
majestic, graceful winged figures, but painted of a dusky grey colour
(it may originally have been black). In one scene, where Julian the
Apostate goes to seek the heathen divinities, they are thus represented,

1 MS. 13th century, Breviaire de St. Louis. ^ p^rig^ ^i]^i jjat., No. 510. G. MS.

VOL. I. I

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

that is, as hlach angels; sliowing that the painter had here assumed
the devils or demons to be the discrowned and fallen gods of the
antique world.

These are a few of the most striking instances of angels employed as
ministers of wrath. Angels, as ministers of divine grace and mercy,

Of all those acts which Deity supreme
Doth ease its heart of love in,

occur much more frequently.

The ancient heresy that God made use of the agency of angels in
the creation of the world, and of mankind, I must notice here, because
it has found its way into Art; for example, in an old miniature which
represents an angel having before him a lump of clay, a kind of
ehauche of humanity, which he appears to be moulding with his hands,
while the Almighty stands by directing the work.^ This idea,
absurd as it may appear, is not perhaps more absurd than the notion
of those who would represent the Great First Cause as always
busied in fashioning or altering the forms in His visible creation,
like a potter or any other mechanic. But as we are occupied at
present with the Scriptural, not the legendary subjects, I return to
the Old Testament. The first time that we read of an angel sent as
a messenger of mercy, it is for the comfort of poor Hagar ; when he
found her weeping by the spring of water in the wilderness, because
her mistress had afflicted her : and again, when she was cast forth
and her boy fainted for thirst. In the representation of these sub-
jects, I do not know a single instance in which the usual angelic form
has not been adhered to. In the sacrifice of Isaac, ' the angel of the
Lord calls to Abraham out of heaven.' This subject, as the received
type of the sacrifice of the Son of God, was one of the earliest in
Christian Art. We find it on the sarcophagi of the third and fourth
centuries ; but in one of the latest only have I seen a personage
introduced as staying the hand of Abraham, and this personage is
without wings. In painting, the angel is sometimes in the act of
taking the sword out of Abraham's hand, which expresses the nature of
his message; or he lays one hand on his arm, and-with the other points
to the ram which was to replace the sacrifice, or brings the ram in his

^ As in the legend of Prometheus. (Plato, Protag. p. 320.)

ANGELS.

67

arms to the altar ; but, whatever the action, the form of the ano-elic
messenger has never varied from the sixth century.

In the visit of the angels to Abraham, there has been a variety
caused by the wording of the text. It is not said that three angeU
visited Abraham, yet in most of the ancient representations the three
celestial guests are winged angels. I need hardly observe that these

The Angels who visit Abraham. (Raphael.)

three angels are assumed to be a figure of the Trinity, and in some
old illuminations the interpretation is not left doubtful, the angels
being characterised as the three persons of the Trinity, wearing each
the cruciform nimbus : two of them, young and beardless, stand
behind ; the third, representing the Father, has a beard, and, before
//m, Abraham is prostrated. Beautiful for grace and simplicity is
the winged group by Ghiberti, in w^hich the three seem to step and
move together as one. More modern artists have given us the
celestial visitants merely as men. Pre-eminent in this style of con-
ception are the pictures of Eaphael and Murillo. Eaphael here, as
elsewhere, a true poet, has succeeded in conveying, with exquisite

«S SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

felicity, the sentiment of power, of a heavenly presence, and of a
mysterious significance. The three youths, who stand linked together
hand in hand before the Patriarch, with such an air of benign and
superior grace, want no wings to show us that they belong to the
courts of heaven, and have bat just descended to earth —

So lively shines
In them divine resemblance, and such grace
The hand that formed them on their shape hath poured.

Murillo, on the contrary, gives us merely three young men,
travellers, and has set aside wholly both the angelic and the mystic
character of the visitants. -^

The angels who descend and ascend the ladder in Jacob's dream
are in almost every instance represented in the usual form ; some-
times a few^ — sometimes in multitudes^ — sometimes as one only,
who turns to bless the sleeper before he ascends;* and the ladder is
sometimes a flight, or a series of flights, of steps ascending from
earth to the empyrean. But here it is Rembrandt who has shown
himself the poet ; the ladder is a slanting stream of light ; the angels
axe mysterious bird-like luminous forms, which emerge one after
another from a dazzling fount of glory, and go floating up and down,
— so like a dream made visible ! — In Middle-Age Art this vision of
Jacob occurs very rarely. I shall have to return to it when treating
of the subjects from the Old Testament.

In the New Testament angels are much more frequently alluded
to than in the Old; more as a reality, less as a vision; in fact,
there is no important event throughout the Gospels and Acts in
which angels do not appear, either as immediate agents, or as visible
and present; and in scenes where they are not distinctly said to be
visibly present, they are assumed to be so invisibly, St. Paul having
said expressly that ' their ministry is continual.' It is therefore with
undeniable propriety that, in works of Art representing the incidents
of the Gospels, angels should figure as a perpetual presence, made
visible under such forms as custom and tradition have consecrated.

I pass over, for the present, the grandest, the most important

^ Sutherland Gallery. ^ As in Raphael's fresco in the Vatican.

^ As in the picture by Allston, painted for Lord Egremont, and now at Petworth,

* As in a picture by F. Bol.

ANGELS.

6S»

mission of an angel, the announcement brought by Gabriel to the
blessed Virgin. I shall have to treat it fully hereafter.^ The angel
who appears to Joseph, in a dream, and the angel who commands
him to flee into Egypt, was in both cases probably the same angel
who hailed Mary as blessed above all women ; but we are not told so ;
and according to some commentators it was the guardian angel of
Joseph who appeared to him. In these and other scenes of the New
Testament, in which angels are described as direct agents, or merely
as a chorus of ministering attendants, they have the usual form,
enhanced by as much beauty, and benignity, and aerial grace as the
fancy of the artist could bestow on them. In the Nativity they are
seen hovering^on high, pouring forth their song of triumph ; they hold
a scroll in their hands on which their song is written : in general there
are three angels; the first sings, Gloria in excelsis Deo! the second,
Et in terra pax ! the third, Hominibus bonce voluntatis ! but in some
pictures the three angels are replaced by a numerous choir, who raise
the song of triumph in the skies, while others are seen kneeling
round and adoring the Divine Infant.

The happiest, the most beautiful, instance I can remember of this
particular treatment is the little chapel in the Riccardi Palace at
Florence. This chapel is in the form of a Greek cross, and the frescoes
are thus disposed : —

^ See ' Legends of the Madonna,' p. 180.

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

The walls 1, 2, and 3, are painted with the journey of the Wise Men,
who, with a long train of attendants mounted on horseback and gor-
geously apparelled, are seen travelling over hill and dale led by the
guiding star. Over the altar was the Nativity (now removed) ; on
each side (4, 5) is seen a choir of angels, perhaps fifty in number,
rejoicing over the birth of the Kedeemer : some kneel in adoration, with
arms folded over the bosom, others offer flowers ; some come dancing
forward with flowers in their hands or in the lap of their robe ; others
sing and make celestial music: they have glories round their heads, all
inscribed alike, ' Gloria in excelsis Deo ! ' The naive grace, the beau-
tiful devout expression, the airy movements of these lovely beings, melt
the soul to harmony and joy. The chapel having been long shut up,
and its existence scarcely remembered, these paintings are in excellent
preservation; and I saw nothing in Italy that more impressed me with
admiration of the genuine feeling and piety of the old masters. The
choral angels of Angelico da Fiesole already described are not more
pure in sentiment, and are far less animated, than these.'

But how different from both is the ministry of the angels in some of
the pictures of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, both German
and Italian I The Virgin Mary is washing her Divine Infant ; angels
dry the clothes, or pour out water ; Joseph is planing a board, and
angels assist the Infant Saviour in sweeping up the chips. In a beau-
tiful little Madonna and Child, in Prince Wallerstein's collection, an
angel is playing with the Divine Infant, is literally \i\^ play -fellow ;
a very graceful idea, of which I have seen but this one instance.

In the Flight into Egj^pt, an angel often leads the ass. In the
Riposo, a subject rare before the fifteenth century, angels offer fruit
and flowers, or bend down the branches of the date-tree, that Joseph
may gather the fruit; or weave the choral dance, hand in hand, for
the delight of the Infant Christ, while others make celestial music —
as in Vandyck's beautiful picture in Lord Ashburton's collection.
After the Temptation, they minister to the Saviour in the wilderness,
and spread for Him a table of refreshment —

. , . Celestial food divine,
Ambrosial fruit, fetched from the tree of life,
And from the fount of life ambrosial drink.

^ For several curious and interesting particulars relative to these subjects, see the
'Legends cf the Madonna,' pp. 247, 256.

ANGELS. 71

It is not said that angels were visibly present at the baptism of
Christ ; but it appears to me that they ought not therefore to be sup-
posed absent, and that there is a propriety in making them attendants
on this solemn occasion. They are not introduced in the very earliest
examples, those in the catacombs and sarcophagi ; nor yet in the
mosaics of Ravenna; because angels were then rarely figured, and
instead of the winged angel we have the sedge-crowned river god,
representing the Jordan, In the Greek formula, they are required
to be present ' in an attitude of respect : ' no mention is made of
their holding the garments of our Saviour ; but it is certain that in
Byzantine Art, and generally from the twelfth century, this has been
the usual mode of representing them. According to the Fathers, our
Saviour had no guardian angel ; because He did not require one : not-
withstanding the sense usually given to the text, ' He shall give His
angels charge concerning thee, lest at any time thou dash thy foot
against a stone,' the angels, they affirm, were not the guardians, but
the servants, of Christ ; and hence, I presume, the custom of repre-
senting them, not merely as present, but as ministering to Him
during His baptism. The gates of San Paolo (tenth century) afford
the most ancient example I have met with of an angel holding the
raiment of the Saviour : there is only one angel. Giotto introduces
two graceful angels kneeling on the bank of the river, and looking
on with attention. The angel in Raphael's composition bows his
head, as if awe-struck by the divine recognition of the majesty of the
Redeemer ; and the reverent manner in which he holds the vestment
is very beautiful. Other examples will here suggest themselves to
the reader, and I shall resume the subject when treating of the life
of our Saviour.

In one account of our Saviour's agony in the Garden of Gethsemane,
it is expressly said that an angel ' appeared unto Him out of heaven,
strengthening Him ; ' therefore, where this awful and pathetic subject
has been attempted in Art, there is propriety in introducing a visible
angel. Notwithstanding the latitude thus allowed to the imagination,
or perhaps for that very reason, the greatest and the most intel-
ligent painters have here fallen into strange errors, both in concep-
tion and in taste. For instance, is it not a manifest impropriety to

75 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

take the Scripture phrase in a literal sense, and place a cup in the
hand of the angel ? Is not the word cup here, as elsewhere, used as
a metaphor, signifying the destiny awarded by Divine will, as Christ
had said before, * Ye shall drink of my cup,' and as we say, ' His cup
overfloweth with blessings ? ' The angel, therefore, who does not
bend from heaven to announce to Him the decree He knew full well,
nor to present the cup of bitterness, but to strengthen and comfort
Him, should not bear the cup ; — still less the cross, the scourge, the
crown of thorns, as in many pictures.

Where our Saviour appears bowed to the earth, prostrate, half
swooning with the anguish of that dread moment, and. an angel is
seen sustaining Him, there is a true feeling of the real meaning of
Scripture ; but even in such examples the effect is often spoiled by
an attempt to render the scene at once more mystical and more
palpable. Thus a painter equally remarkable for the purity of his
taste and deep religious feeling, Niccolo Poussin, has represented
Christ, in His agony, supported in the arms of an angel, while a
crowd of child-angels, very much like Cupids, appear before Him
with the instruments of the Passion ; ten or twelve bear a huge
cross ; others hold the scourge, the crown of thorns, the nails, the
sponge, the spear, and exhibit them before Him, as if these were the
images, these the terrors, which could overwhelm with fear and
anguish even the human nature of such a Being ! ^ It seems to me
also a mistake, when the angel is introduced, to make him merely an
accessory (as Kaphael has done in one of his early pictures), a little
figure in the air to help the meaning : since the occasion was worthy
of angelic intervention, in a visible shape, bringing divine solace,
divine sympathy, it should be represented under a form the most
mighty and the most benign that Art could compass ; — but has it
been so ? I can recollect no instance in which the failure has not
been complete. If it be said that to render the angelic comforter so
superior to the sorrowing and prostrate Redeemer would be to detract
from His dignity as the principal personage of the scene, and thus
violate one of the first rules of Art, I think differently — I think it
could do so only in unskilful hands. Represented as it ought to be,

1 The picture is, I suspect, not by Poussin, but by Stella. There is another, similar,
byGuido; Louvre, 1057^

ANGELS.

73

and might be, it would infinitely enhance the idea of that unimagin-
able anguish which, as we are told, was compounded of the iniquities
and sorrows of all humanity laid upon Him. It was not the pang of
the Mortal, but the Immortal, which required the presence of a
ministering spirit sent down from heaven to sustain Him.

21

Lamenting Angel in a Crucifixion. (Campo Santo.)

In the Crucifixion, angels are seen lamenting, wringing their
hands, averting or hiding their faces. In the old Greek crucifixions,
one angel bears the sun, another the moon, on each side of the
cross : —

. . . Dim sadness did not spare,
That time, celestial visages.

Michael Angelo gives us two unwinged colossal-looking angel heads,
which peer out of heaven in the background of his Crucifixion in a
manner truly supernatural, as if they sympathised in the consum-
mation, but in awe rather than in grief

Angels also receive in golden cups the blood which flows from the
wounds of our Saviour. This is a representation which has the autho-
rity of some of the most distinguished and most spiritual among the
old painters ; but it is, to my taste, particularly unpleasing and un-
poetical. Raphael, in an early picture, the only Crucifixion he ever
painted, thus introduces the angels ; and this form of the angelic
ministry is a mystical version of the sacrifice of the Redeemer, not
uncommon in Italian and German pictures of the sixteenth century.

As the Scriptural and legendary scenes, in which angels form the
poetical machinery, will be discussed hereafter in detail as separate
subjects, I shall conclude these general and preliminary remarks

TOL. L K

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

with a few words on the characteristic style in which the principal
painters have set forth the angelic forms and attributes.

It appears that, previous to the end of the fourth century, there
were religious scruples which forbade the representation of angels,
arising, perhaps, from the scandal caused in the early Church by the
Avorship paid to these supernatural beings, and so strongly opposed
by the primitive teachers. We do not find on any of the Christian
relics of the first three centuries, neither in the catacombs nor on the
vases or the sarcophagi, any figure which could be supposed to
represent what we call an angeh On one of the latest sarcophagi we
find little winged figures, but evidently the classical winged genii,
used in the classical manner as ornament only.-^ In the second Coun-
cil of Nice, John of Thessalonica maintained that angels have the
human form, and may be so represented ; and the Jewish doctors had
previously decided that God consulted His angels when He said,
' Let us make man after our image,' and that consequently we may
suppose the angels to be like men, or, in the words of the prophet,
' like unto the similitude of the sons of men.' ^ (Dan x. 16.)

But it is evident that, in the first attempt at angelic effigy, it was
deemed necessary, in giving the human shape, to render it as super-
human, as imposing, as possible ; colossal proportions, mighty over-
shadowing wings, kingly attributes, — these we find in the earliest
figures of angels which I believe exist — the mosaics in the Church of
Santa Agata at Ravenna (a.d. 400). Christ is seated on a throne
(as in the early sarcophagi) ; He holds the Gospel in one hand, and
with the left gives the benediction. An angel stands on each side ;
they have large wings, and bear a silver wand, the long sceptre of
the Grecian kings ; they are robed in classical drapery, but wear the
short pallium (the ' garb succinct for flight ' ) ; their feet are san-
daled, as prepared for a journey, and their hair bound by a fillet.
Except in the wings and short pallium, they resemble the figures of
Grecian kings and priests in the ancient bas-reliefs.

This was the truly majestic idea of an angelic presence (in contra-
distinction to the angelic emblem), which, well or ill executed, pre-
vailed during the first ten centuries. In the MS.^ already referred

^ Ciampini, p. 131, a.d. 394. " Greek MS., a.d. 867. =* Paris, Bib. Nat., No. 510.

ANGELS.

75

to, as containing such magnificent examples of this Godlike form

and bearing, I selected one group less ruined

than most of the others — Jacob wrestling with

the angel. The drawing is wonderful for the

period, that of Charlemagne ; and see how the

mighty being grasps the puny mortal, who was

permitted for a while to resist him ! — 'He

touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, and it was

out of joint ; ' — the action is as significant as

possible. In the original, the drapery of the

angel is white ; the fillet binding the hair,

the sandals, and the wings, of purple and

gold.

This lank, formal angel, is from the Greco -
Italian school of the eleventh century. From
the eleventh to the thirteenth century, the
forms of the angels became, like all things in

A.D. 1000,

76

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

the then degraded state of Byzantine Art, merely conventional.
They are attired either in the imperial or the sacerdotal vestments,
as already described, and are richly ornamented, tasteless and stiiF,
large without grandeur, and, in general, ill drawn ; as in these
figures from Monreale (24).

A

24

Greek Angels. (Cathedral of Monreale. Eleventh century.)

On the revival of Art, we find the Byzantine idea of angels every-
where prevailing. The angels in Cimabue's famous ' Virgin and
Child Enthroned ' are grand creatures, rather stern ; but this arose,
I think, from his inability to express beauty. The colossal angels at
Assisi (a.d. 1270), solemn sceptred kingly forms, all alike in action
and attitude, appeared to me magnificent (30).

In the angels of Giotto (a.d. 1310), we see the commencement of
a softer grace and a purer taste, further developed by some of his
scholars. Benozzo Gozzoli and Orcagna have left in the Campo
Santo examples of the most graceful and fanciful treatment. Of
Benozzo's angels in the Riccardi Palace I have spoken at length.
His master Angelico (worthy the name !) never reached the same
power of expressing the rapturous rejoicing of celestial beings, but
his conception of the angelic nature remains unapproached, unap-
proachable (a.d. 1430) ; it is only his, for it was the gentle, passion-

ANGELS.

77

less, refined nature of the recluse, which stamped itself there.
Angelico's angels are unearthly, not so much in form as in senti-
ment ; and superhuman, not in power but in purity. In other hands,
any imitation of his soft ethereal grace would become feeble and
insipid. With their long robes falling round their feet, and drooping
many-coloured wings, they seem not to fly or to walk, but to float
along, ^smooth sliding without step.' Blessed, blessed creatures!
love us, only love us, for we dare not task your soft serene Beatitude
by asking you to help us !

There is more sympathy with humanity in Francia's angels : they
look as if they could weep, as well as love and sing.

Most beautiful are the groups of adoring angels by Francesco

Granacci,^ so serenely tender, yet with a touch of grave earnestness
which gives them a character apart : they have the air of guardian
angels, who have discharged their trust, and to whom the Supreme
utterance has voiced forth, * Servant of God, well done ! '

^ In the Academy at Florence : they must have formed the side wings to an enthroned
Madonna and Child.

78 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

The angels of Botticelli are often stiff, and those of Ghirlandajo
sometimes fantastic; but in both I have met with angelic coun-
tenances and forms which, for' intense and happy expression, can
never be forgotten. One has the feeling, however, that they used
human models — the portrait face looks through the angel face. This
is still more apparent in Mantegna and Filippo Lippi. As we might
have expected from the character of Fra Filippo his angels want
refinement : they have a boyish look, with their crisped curled hair,
and their bold beauty; yet some of them are magnificent for that
sort of angel-beings supposed to have a volition of their own. Andrea
del Sarto's angels have the same fault in a less degree : they have,
if not a bold, yet a self-willed boyish expression.

Perugino's angels convey the idea of an unalterable sweetness :
those of his earlier time have much natural grace, those of his later
time are mannered. In early Venetian Art the angels are charming ;
they are happy affectionate beings, with a touch of that voluptuous
sentiment afterwards the characteristic of the Venetian school.

In the contemporary German school, angels are treated in a very
extraordinary and original stjde (26). One cannot say that they are
earthly, or commonplace, still less are they beautiful or divine ; but
they have great simplicity, earnestness, and energy of action. They
appear to me conceived in the Old Testament spirit, with their grand
stiff massive draperies, their jewelled and golden glories, their wings
' eyed like the peacock, speckled like the pard,' their intense expres-
sion, and the sort of personal and passionate interest they throw into
their ministry. This is the character of Albert Diirer's angels
especially ; those of Martin Schoen and Lucus v. Leyden are of a
gentler spirit.

Leonardo da Vinci's angels do not quite please me, elegant, refined,
and lovely as they are : — * me thinks they smile too much.' By his
scholar Luini there are some angels in the gallery of the Brera,
swinging censers and playing on musical instruments, which, with the
peculiar character of the Milanese school, combine all the grace of a
purer, loftier nature.

Correggio's angels are grand and lovely, but they are like children
enlarged and sublimated, not like spirits taking the form of children:
where they smile it is truly, as Aunibal Caracci expresses it, * con una

ANGELS.

19

Angel. German School. (Albert Diirer).

naturalezza e semplicitd che innamora e sforza a rider e con loro;' but
the smile in many of Correggio's angel heads has something sublime
and spiritual, as well as simple and natural,

Aud Titian's angels impress me in a similar manner — I mean
those in the glorious Assumption at Venice — with their childish
forms and features, but with an expression caught from beholding
the face of ' our Father that is in heaven : ' it is glorified infancy.
I remember standing before this picture, contemplating those lovely
spirits one after another, until a thrill came over me like that which
I felt when Mendelssohn played the organ, and I became music while
I listened. The face of one of those angels is to the face of a child
just what that of the Virgin in the same picture is compared with
the fairest of the daughters of earth : it is not here superiority of
beauty, but mind and music and love, kneaded^ as it were, into form
and colour.

80 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

I have thought it singular and somewhat unaccountable, that among
the earliest examples of undraped boy-angels are those of Fra Barto-
lomeo — he who on one occasion, at the command of Savonarola, made
a bonfire of all the undressed figures he could lay his hands on.

But Raphael, excelling in all things, is here excellent above all :
his angels combine, in a higher degree than any other, the various
faculties and attributes in which the fancy loves to clothe these pure,
immortal, beatified creatures. The angels of Giotto, of Benozzo, of
Fiesole, are, if not female, feminine ; those of F. Lippi, and of A.
Mantegna, masculine ; but you cannot say of those of Raphael that
they are masculine or feminine. The idea of sex is wholly lost in the
blending of power, intelligence, and grace. In his earlier pictures
grace is the predominant characteristic, as in the dancing and singing
angels in his Coronation of the Virgin.-^ In his later pictures the
sentiment in his ministering angels is more spiritual, more dignified.
As a perfect example of grand and poetical feeling, I may cite the
angels as ' Regents of the Planets,' in the Capella Chigiana.^ The
cupola represents in a circle the creation of the solar sj^stem, accord-
ing to the theological and astronomical (or rather astrological) notions
which then prevailed — a hundred years before ' the starry Galileo
and his woes.' In the centre is the Creator; around, in eight com-
partments, we have, first, the angel of the celestial sphere, who seems
to be listening to the divine mandate, ' Let there be lights in the
firmament of heaven ; ' then follow, in their order, the Sun, the
Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The name of
each planet is expressed by its mythological representative ; the Sun
by Apollo, the Moon by Diana : and over each presides a grand
colossal winged spirit seated or reclining on a portion of the zodiac
as on a throne. I have selected two angels to give an idea of this
l)eculiar and poetical treatment. The union of the theological and
the mythological attributes is in the classical taste of the time, and
quite Miltonic.^ In Raphael's child-angels, the expression of power

^ Gallery of the Vatican. ^ S. Maria del Popolo, Rome.

3 The mosaics in the dome of the Chigi chapel are so ill lighted that it is difi&cult to
observe them in detail, but they have lately been rendered cheaply accessible in the fine
set of engravings by Gruner, an artist who in our day has revived the pure and con^ct
design and elegant execution of Marc Antonio.

ANGELS.

81

and intelligence, as well as innocence, is quite wonderful ; for in-
stance, look at the two angel-boys in the Dresden Madonna di San
Sisto, and the angels, or celestial genii, who bear along the Almighty
when He appears to Noah.^ No one has expressed like Raphael the
action of flight, except perhaps Rembrandt. The angel who descends
to crown Santa Felicita cleaves the air with the action of a swallow;^
and the angel in Rembrandt's Tobit soars like a lark with upward
motion, spurning the earth.

Michael Angelo rarely gave wings to his angels ; I scarcely re-
collect an instance, except the angel in the Annunciation : and his
exaggerated human forms, his colossal creatures, in which the idea
of power is conveyed through attitude and muscular action, are, to my
taste, worse than unpleasing. My admiration for this wonderful man
is so profound that I can afford to say this. His angels are super-
human, but hardly angelic : and while in Raphael's angels we do not
feel the want of wings, we feel while looking at those of Michael
Angelo that not even the ^sail-broad vans ' with which Satan laboured
through the surging abyss of chaos could suffice to lift those Titanic
forms from earth, and sustain them in mid-air. The group of angels
over the Last Judgment, flinging their mighty limbs about, and those
that surround the descending figure of Christ in the Conversion of St.
Paul, may be referred to here as characteristic examples. The angels,
blowing their trumpets, puff and strain like so many troopers. Surely
this is not angelic : there may be power ^ great imaginative and
artistic power, exhibited in the conception of form, but in the beings
themselves there is more of eifort than of power: serenity, tran-
quillity, beatitude, ethereal purity, spiritual grace, are out of the
question.

The later followers of his school, in their angelic as in their human
forms, caricatured their great master, and became, to an offensive
degree, forced, extravagant, and sensual.

When we come to the revival of a better taste under the influence of
the Caracci, we find the angels of that school as far removed from the

^ As in the fresco In the Vatican.

2 See the engraving under this title by Marc Antonio ; it is properly St. Cecilia, and not
St. F^Hcit^.

VOL. T. T

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

early Cliristian types as were tlieir apostles and martyrs. They have
often great beauty, consummate elegance, but bear the same relation to
the religious and ethereal types of the early painters that the angels of
Tassobear to those of Dante. Turn, for instance, to the commencement
of the Gerusalemme Liberata, where the angel is deputed to carry to
Godfrey the behest of the Supreme Being. The picture of the angel is
distinctly and poetically brought before us; he takes tohimself a form
between boyhood and youth ; his waving curls are crowned with beams
of light ; he puts on a pair of wings of silver tipped with gold, with
which he cleaves the air, the clouds, the skies ; he alights on Mount
Lebanon, and poises himself on his balanced wings —

E si libr6 su 1' adeguate penrie.

This is exactly the angel which figures in the best pictures of the
Caracci and Guido : he is supremely elegant, and nothing more.

I must not here venture on minute criticism, as regards distinc-
tive character in the crowds of painters which sprung out of the
eclectic school. It would carry us too far ; but one or two general
remarks will lead the reader's fancy along the path I would wish
him to pursue. I would say, therefore, that the angels of Ludovico
have more of sentiment, those of Annibal more of power, those of
Guido more of grace ; and of Guido it may be said that he excels
them all in the expression of adoration and humility ; see, for in-
stance, the adoring seraphs in Lord Ellesmere's ' Immaculate
Conception.' The angels of Domenichino, Guercino, and Albauo,
are to me less pleasing. Domenichino's angels are merely human. I
never saw an angel in one of Guercino's pictures that had not, with
the merely human character, a touch of vulgarity. As for Albano,
how are we to discriminate between his angels and his nymphs,
Apollos, and Cupids ? But for the occasion and the appellation, it
would be quite impossible to distinguish the Loves that sport round
Yenus and Adonis, from the Cherubim, so called, that hover above
a Nativity or a Riposo ; and the little angels, in his Crucifixion, cry
so like naughty little boys, that one longs to put them in a corner.
This merely heathen grace and merely human sentiment is the
general tendency of the whole school ; and no beauty of form or colour
can, to the feeling and religious mind, redeem such gross violations of

ANGELS.

83

^-^

27

Angels in a Nativity. (Seventeenth century.)

propriety. As for Poussin, of whom I think with due reverence, his
angels are often exquisitely beautiful and refined: they have a chastity

28 Angel : in a picture of Christ healing the Siclc. (N. Poussin

and a moral grace which pleases at first view ; but here again the
scriptural type is neglected and heathenised in obedience to the
fashion of the time. If we compare the Cupids in his Rinaldo and

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

Arinida, with the angels which minister to the Virgin and Child ; or
the Cherubim weeping in a Deposition, with the Amorini who are
lamenting over Adonis; in what respect do they differ? They are
evidently painted from the same models, the beautiful children of
Titian and Flamingo.

Kubens gives us strong well-built youths, with redundant yellow
hair; and chubby naked babies, as like flesh and blood, and as
natural, as the life : and those of Vandyck are more elegant, without
being more angelic. Murillo's child-angels are divine, through
absolute beauty; the expression of innocence and beatitude was
never more perfectly given ; but in grandeur and power they are
inferior to Correggio, and, in all that should characterise a divine
nature, immeasurably below Eaphael.

Strange to say, the most poetical painter of angels in the seven-
teenth century is that inspired Dutchman, Eembrandt ; not that his
angels are scriptural ; still less classical ; and beautiful they are not,
certainly — often the reverse ; but if they have not the Miltonic dignity
and grace, they are at least as unearthly and as poetical as any of
the angelic phantasms in Dante, — unhuman, unembodied creatures,
compounded of light and darkness, ' the somewhat between a thought
and a thing^^ haunting the memory like apparitions. For instance,
look at his Jacob's Dream, at Dulwich ; or his etching of the Angels
appearing to the Shepherds, — ^breaking through the night, scattering
the gloom, making our eyes ache with excess of glory, — the Gloria
in excelsis ringing through the fancy while we gaze !

I have before observed that angels are supposed to be masculine,
with the feminine attributes of beauty and purity ; but in the seven-
teenth century the Florentine painter, Giovanni di S. Giovanni,
scandalised his contemporaries by introducing into a glory round the
Virgin, female angels (angelesse). Rubens has more than once com-
mitted the same fault against ecclesiastical canons and decorum ; for
instance, in his Madonna * aux Anges' in the Louvre. Such aber-
rations of fancy are mere caprices of the painter, improprieties
inadmissible in high Art.

Of the sprawling, fluttering, half-naked angels of the Pietro da
Cortona and Bernini school, and the feeble mannerists of the seven-

ANGELS.

85

teenth and eighteenth centuries, what shall be said ? that they are
worthy to illustrate Moore's Loves of the Angels ? ' non ragioniam
di lor ; ' no, nor even look at them ! I have seen angels of the later
Italian and Spanish painters more like opera dancers, with artificial
wings and gauze draperies, dressed to figure in a ballet, than any-
thing else I could compare them to.

The most original, and, in truth, the only new and original version
of the Scripture idea of angels which I have met with, is that of
William Blake, a poet painter, somewhat mad as we are told, if
indeed his madness were not rather ^ The telescope of truth,' a sort
of poetical clairvoyance^ bringing the unearthly nearer to him than
to others. His adoring angels float rather than fly, and, with their
half-liquid draperies, seem about to dissolve into light and love :
and his rejoicing angels — behold them — sending up their voices with
the morning stars, that ^ singing, in their glory move ! '

' All the sons of God shouted for joy ! '

As regards the treatment of angels in the more recent productions
of Art, the painters and sculptors have generally adhered to received
and known types in form and in sentiment. The angels of the old

86 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

Italians, Giotto and Frate Angelico, have been very well imitated by
Steinle and others of the German school : the RafFaelesqne feeling
has been in general aimed at by the French and English painters.
Tenerani had the old mosaics in his mind when he conceived that
magnificent colossal Angel of the Resurrection seated on a tomb,
and waiting for the signal to sonnd his trumpet, which I saw in
his atelier, prepared, I believe, for the monument of the Duchess
Lanti.^

I pause here, for I have dwelt upon these celestial Hierarchies,
winged Splendours, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers, till my fancy is
becoming somewhat mazed and dazzled by the contemplation. I
must leave the reader to go into a picture-gallery, or look over a
portfolio of engravings, and so pursue the theme, whithersoever it
may lead him, and it may lead him, in Hamlet's words, ^ to thoughts
beyond the reaches of his soul ! ' ^

^ It is now in the Lanti chapel in the church of the Lateran.

2 Mr. Euskin remarks very truly, that in early Christian Art there is * a certain confidence,
in the way in which angels trust to their wings, very characteristic of a period of bold and
simple conception. Modern science has taught us that a wing cannot be anatomically joined
to a shoulder; and in proportion as painters approach more and more to the scientific as
distinguished from the contemplative state of mind, they put the wings of their angels on
more timidly, and dwell with greater emphasis on the human form with less upon the wings,
until these last become a species of decorative appendage, a mere drjn of an angel. But in
Giotto's time an angel was a complete creature, as much believed in as a bird, and the way
in which it would or might cast itself into the air and lean hither and thither on its plumes,
was as naturally apprehended as the manner of flight of a chough or a starling. Hence
Dante's simple and most exquisite synonym for angel, "Bird of God;" and hence also a
variety and picturesqueness in the expression of the movements of the heavenly hierarchies
by the earlier painters, ill replaced by the powers of foreshortening and throwing naked limbs
into fantastic positions, which appear in the cherubic groups of later times.' The angels from
the Campo Santo at Pisa, numbered 12, 21, and 32, are instances of this bird-like form. They
are Uccelli di Dio. Those numbered 27, 2S, and 37 are examples of the later treatment.

Archangels. (Cimabue. In San Francesco d'Assisi.)

The Seven
Who in God's presence, nearest to His throne,
Stand ready at command. — MiLTOX.

Having treated of the celestial Hierarchy in general, we have now to
consider those angels who in artistic representations have assumed an
individual form and character. These belong to the order of Arch-
angels, placed by Dionysius in the third Hierarchy : they take rank
between the Princedoms and the Angels, and partake of the nature
of both, being, like the Princedoms, Powers ; and, like the Angels,
Ministers and Messengers.

SACRED AXD LEGENDARY ART.

Frequent allusion is made in Scripture to the seven Angels who
stand in the presence of God. (Rev. viii. 2, xv. 1, xvi. 1, &c..
Tobit xxii. 15.) This was in accordance with the popular creed of
the Jews, who not only acknowledged the supremacy of the Seven
Spirits, but assigned to them distinct vocations and distinct apella-
tions, each terminating with the syllable El, which signifies God.
Thus we have —

T. Michael (e.^., who is like unto God), captain-general of the host
of heaven, and protector of the Hebrew nation.

II. Gabriel {i.e,, God is my strength), guardian of the celestial
treasury, and preceptor of the patriarch Joseph.

III. Raphael {i.e., the Medicine of God), the conductor of Tobit;
thence the chief guardian angel.

IV. Uriel (e.^., the Light of God), who taught Esdras. He was
also regent of the sue.

V. Chamuel {i.e., one who sees God?), who wrestled with Jacob,
and who appeared to Christ at Gethsemane. (But, according to other
authorities, this was the angel Gabriel.)

YI. JoPHiEL {i.e., the Beauty of God), who was the preceptor of
the sons of Noah, and is the protector of all those who, with an humble
heart, seek after truth, and the enemy of those who pursue vain know-
ledge. Thus Jophiel was naturally considered as the guardian of the
tree of knowledge, and the same who drove Adam and Eve from
Paradise.

VII. Zadkiel {i.e., the Righteousness of God), who stayed the hand
of Abraham when about to sacrifice his son. (But, according to
other authorities, this was the archangel Michael.)

The Christian Church does not acknowledge these Seven Angels by
name ; neither in the East, where the worship of angels took deep
root, nor yet in the West, where it h^ts been tacitly accepted. Nor
have I met with them as a series, by name, in any ecclesiastical work of
Art, though I have seen a set of old anonymous prints in which they
appear with distinct names and attributes : Michael bears the sword and
scales ; Gabriel, the lily; Raphael, the pilgrim's staff and gourd full of
water, as a traveller. Uriel has a roll and a book : he is the interpreter
of judgments and prophecies, and for this purpose was sent to Esdras :

THE ARCHANGELS.

69

The Archangels Michael and Raphael. (Campo Santo.)

— ' The angel that was sent unto me, whose name was Uriel, gave me
an answer.' (Esdras, ii. 4.) And in Milton —

Uriel, for thou of those Seven Spirits that stand
In sight of God's high throne, gloriously bright,
The first art wont his great authentic will
Interpreter through highest heaven to bring.

According to an early Christian tradition, it was this angel, and
not Christ in person, who accompanied the two disciples to Emmaus.
VOL. I. M

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

Cliamuel is represented with a cup and a staff; Jophiel with a
flaming sword. Zadkiel bears the sacrificial knife which he took
from the hand of Abraham.

But the Seven Angels, without being distinguished by name, are
occasionally introduced into works of art. For example, over the arch
of the choir in San Michele, at Ravenna (a.d. 545), on each side of
the throned Saviour are the Seven Angels blowing trumpets like cow's
horns : — ' And I saw the Seven Angels which stand before God, and
to them were given seven trumpets.' (Rev. viii. 2, 6.) In representa-
tions of the Crucifixion and in the Pieta, the Seven Angels are often
seen in attendance, bearing the instruments of the Passion. Michael
bears the cross, for he is ' the Bannerer of heaven ; ' but I do not feel
certain of the particular avocations of the others.

In the Last Judgment of Orcagna, in the Campo Santo at Pisa (31),
the Seven Angels are active and important personages. The angel who
stands in the centre of the picture, below the throne of Christ, extends
a scroll in each hand ; on that in the right hand is inscribed ^ Come, ye
blessed of my Father,' and on that in the left hand, ' Depart from me,
ye accursed : ' him I suppose to be Michael, the angel of judgment.
At his feet crouches an angel who seems to shrink from the tremendous
spectacle, and hides his face : him I suppose to be Raphael, the
guardian angel of humanity. The attitude has always been admired —
cowering with horror, yet sublime. Beneath are other five angels,
who are engaged in separating the just from the wicked, encouraging
and sustaining the former, and driving the latter towards the demons
who are ready to snatch them into flames. These Seven Angels
have the garb of princes and warriors, with breastplates of gold,
jewelled sword-belts and tiaras, rich mantles ; while the other
angels who figure in the same scene are plumed, and bird-like, and
hover above bearing the instruments of the Passion (32).

Again we may see the Seven Angels in quite another character,
attending on St. Thomas Aquinas, in a picture by Taddeo Gaddi. ^
Here, instead of the instruments of the Passion, they bear the alle-
gorical attributes of those virtues for which that famous saint and
doctor is to be reverenced: one bears an olive-branch, i.e., Peace;
the second, a book, i.e., Knowledge ; the third, a crown and sceptre,

I A.D, 1352. Florence, S. Maria Novella.

THE ARCHANGELS.

i.e., Power ; the fourth, a church, i.e., Religion ; the fifth, a cross and
shield, i.e., Faith; the sixth, flames of fire in each hand, i.e., Piety
and Charity; the seventh, a lily, i.e., Purity.

In general it may be presumed when seven angels figure together,
or are distinguished from among a host of angels by dress, stature, or
other attributes, that these represent ' the Seven Holy Angels who
stand in the presence of God.' Four only of these Seven Angels
are individualised by name, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel.
According to the Jewish tradition, these four sustain the throne of
the Almighty : they have the Greek epithet arch, or chief, assigned
to them, from the two texts of Scripture in which that title is used
(1 Thess. iv. 16; Jude 9); but only the three first, who in Scripture
have a distinct personality, are reverenced in the Catholic Church as
saints ; and their gracious beauty, and their divine prowess, and
their high behests to mortal man, have furnished some of the most
important and most poetical subjects which appear in Christian
Art.

The earliest instance I have met of the Archangels introduced by
name into a work of art is in the old church of San Michele at
Ravenna (a.d. 545). The mosaic in the apse exhibits Christ in the
centre, bearing in one hand the cross as a trophy or sceptre, and in
the other an open book on which are the words ' Qui videt ine videt et
Patrem meum.'' On each side stand Michael and Gabriel, with vast
wings and long sceptres ; their names are inscribed above, but without
the Sanctus and without the Glory. It appears, therefore, that at
this time, the middle of the sixth century, the title of Saint, though
in use, had not been given to the Archangels.

92 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

When, in the ancient churches, the figure of Christ or of the Lamb
appears in a circle of glory in the centre of the roof; and around, or
at the four corners, four angels who sustain the circle with outspread
arms, or stand as watchers, with sceptres or lances in their hands,
these I presume to be the four Archangels ' who sustain the throne
of God.' Examples may be seen in San Vitale at Ravenna ; in the
chapel of San Zeno, in Santa Prassede at Rome ; and on the roof of
the choir of San Francesco d'Assisi.

So the four Archangels, stately colossal figures, winged and armed
and sceptred, stand over the arch of the choir in the Cathedral of
Monreale, at Palermo.-^ j. .

So the four angels stand-at the four corners of the earth and hold
the winds, heads with puffed cheeks and dishevelled hair.^ (Rev.
vii. 1.)

But I have never seen Uriel represented by name, or alone, in any
sacred edifice. In the picture of Uriel painted by Allston,^ he is the
' Regent of the Sun,' as described by Milton ; not a sacred or scrip-
tural personage. On a shrine of carved ivory* I have seen the four
Archangels as keeping guard, two at each end ; the three first are
named, as usual, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael; the fourth is
styled SL Cherubin; and I have seen the same name inscribed over
the head of the angel who expels Adam and Eve from Paradise.
There is no authority for such an appellation applied individually ;
but I find, in a famous legend of the middle ages, ' La Penitence
d'Adam,' that the angel who guards the gates of Paradise is thus
designated : — ' Lorsque I'Ange Cherubin vit arriver Seth aux portes
de Paradis,' &c. The four Archangels, however, seldom occur together,
except in architectural decoration. On the other hand, devotional
pictures of the three Archangels named in the canonical Scriptures
are of frequent occurrence. They are often grouped together as patron
saints or protecting spirits ; or they stand round the throne of Christ,
or below the glorified Virgin and Child, in an attitude of adoration.
According to the Greek formula, the three in combination represent
the triple power, military, civil, and religious, of the celestial hier-

1 Greek mosaic, a.d. 1174.

• MS. of the Book of Revelation, fourteenth century. Trinity College, Dublin.

3 Coll. of the Duke of Sutherland. * Hdtel de Cluny, 399.

THE ARCHANGELS.

93

The Three Archangels (from an ancient Greek picture).

archy : St. Michael being habited as a warrior, Gabriel as a prince,
and Raphael as a priest. In a Greek picture, of which I give an out-
line, the three Archangels sustain in a kind of throne the figure of
the youthful Christ, here winged, as being Himself the supreme Angel
{ayy€\o<i), and with both hands blessing the universe. The Archangel
Raphael has here the place of dignity as representing the Priesthood;

94 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

but in Western Art Michael takes precedence of the two others, and
is usually placed in the centre as Prince or Chief: with him, then,
as considered individually, we begin.

St. Michael.

Lat. Sanctus Michael Angelas. Ital. San Michele, Sammichele.
Fr. Monseigneur Saint Michel. (Sept. 29. )

'Michael, the Great Prince that standeth for the children of thy people.' — Dan. xii. 1.

It is difficult to clothe in adequate language the divine attributes
with which painting and poetry have invested this illustrious arch-
angel. Jews and Christians are agreed in giving him the pre-
eminence over all created spirits. All the might, the majesty, the
radiance, of Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers, are
centred in him. In him God put forth his strength when He exalted
him chief over the celestial host, when angels warred with angels in
heaven ; and in him God showed forth his glory when He made him
conqueror over the power of sin, and ^ over the great dragon that
deceived the world.'

To the origin of the worship paid to this great Archangel I dare
not do more than allude, lest I stray wide from my subject, and lose
myself, and my readers too, in labyrinths of Orientalism. But, in
considering the artistic representations, it is interesting to call to mind
that the glorification of St. Michael may be traced back to that primi-
tive Eastern dogma, the perpetual antagonism between the Spirit of
Good and the Spirit of Evil, mixed up with the Chaldaic belief in
angels and their influence over the destinies of man. It was sub-
sequent to the Captivity that the active Spirit of Good, under the
name of Michael, came to be regarded as the especial protector of the
Hebrew nation ; the veneration paid to him by the Jews was adopted,
or rather retained, by the Oriental Christians, and, though suppressed
for a time, was revived and spread over the West, where we find it
popular and almost universal from the eighth century.

ST. MICHAEL.

85

The legends which have grown out of a few mystical texts of
Scripture, amplified by the fanciful disquisitions of the theological
writers, place St. Michael before us in three great characters : —
1. As captain of the heavenly hosts, and conqueror of the powers
of hell. 2. As lord of souls, conductor and guardian of the
spirits of the dead. 3. As patron saint and prince of the Church
Militant.

When Lucifer, possessed by the spirit of pride and ingratitude,
refused to fall down and worship the Son of man, Michael was
deputed to punish his insolence, and to cast him out from heaven>
Then Michael chained the revolted angels in middle air, where they
are to remain till the day of judgment, being in the meantime per-
petually tortured by hate, envy, and despair; for they behold man,
whom they had disdained, exalted as their superior; above them
they see the heaven they have forfeited; and beneath them the
redeemed souls continually rising from earth, and ascending to the
presence of Grod, whence they are shut out for ever.

' Now,' says the old Legend,^ ' if it be asked wherefore the books
of Moses, in revealing the disobedience and the fall of man, are
silent as to the revolt and the fall of the angels, the reason is plain ;
and in this God acted according to his wisdom. For, let us suppose
that a certain powerful lord had two vassals, both guilty of the
crime of treason, and one of these is a nobleman of pure and lofty
lineage, and the other a base-born churl : — what doth this lord ? He
hangs up the churl in the market-place as a warning and example
to others ; — but, for the nobleman, fearing the scandal that may
arise among the people, and perhaps also some insult to the officers
of the law, the judge causes him to be tried secretly, and shuts him
up in a dungeon ; and when judgment is pronounced against him,
he sends to his prison, and puts him privily to death ; and when one
asketh after him, the answer is only ^* He is dead : " — and nothing
more. Thus did God in respect to the rebel angels of old ; and
their fate was not revealed until the redemption of man was accom-
plished.'

This passage from the old Italian legend is so curiously charac-

^ V. II perfetto Legendario. 1659.

P8 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

teristic of the feudal spirit of Christianity in the middle ages, that
I have ventured to insert it verbatim. If religion did, in some
degree, modify the institutions of chivalrj^, in a much greater degree
did the ruling prejudices of a barbarian age modify the popular
ideas of religion. Here, notwithstanding the primary doctrine of
Christ — the equality of all men before God, we have the distinc-
tion between noble and churl carried into the very councils of
Heaven.

But, to return to St. Michael : on whom, as the leader of his tri-
umphant hosts, God bestowed many and great privileges. To him it
was given

to bid sound tli' archangel trumpet,

and exalt the banner of the Cross in the day of judgment ; and to
him likewise was assigned the reception of the immortal spirits when
released by death. It was his task to weigh them in a balance (Dan.
V. 27 ; Ps. Ixii. 9) : those whose good works exceeded their demerits,
he presented before the throne of God ; but those who were found
wanting he gave up to be tortured in purgatory, until their souls,
from being ' as crimson, should become as white as snow.' There-
fore, in the hour of death, he is to be invoked by the faithful, say-
ing, ^ 0 Michael^ militice ccelestis signifer, in adjutorium nostrum
veni, princeps et propugnator I '

Lastly, when it pleased the Almighty to select from among the
nations of the earth one people to become peculiarly his own. He ap-
pointed St. Michael to be president and leader over that chosen people. ^
•At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth
for the children of thy people' (Dan. x. 13, xii. 1) : and when the
power of the Synagogue was supposed to cease, and to be replaced by
the power of the Church, so that the Christians became the people
of God, then Michael, who had been the great prince of the Hebrew

1 The Gnostics taught that the universe was created by the Seven Great Angels, who
ranked next to the Eons, or direct emanations from God : ' and when a distribution was
afterwards made of things, the chief of the creating angels had the people of the Jews par-
ticularly to his share ; a doctrine which in the main was received by many ancients.' — See
Lardner's 'History of the Early Heresies.' I have alluded to the angel pictured as the
agent in creation (p. 39), but the Seven creating Angels I have not met with in art. This
was one of the Gnostic fancies condemned by the early Church.

BT. MICHAEL. 97

people, became the prince and leader of the Church militant in
Christendom, and the guardian of redeemed souls, against his old
adversary the Prince of Hell. (Rev. xii. 6, 7.)

The worship paid to St. Michael, and which originated in the far
East, is supposed to have been adopted by the Oriental Christians in
consequence of a famous apparition of the Archangel at Colossse, in
Phrygia, which caused him to be held in especial honour by the people
of that city, and perhaps occasioned the particular warning of St. Paul
addressed to the Colossians. But although the worship of angels was
considered among the heresies of the early Church, we find Constan-
tine no sooner master of the empire, and a baptized Christian, than
he dedicates a church to the Archangel Michael (by his Greek name
Michaelion), and this church, one of the most magnificent in Con-
stantinople, became renowned for its miracles, and the parent and
model of hundreds more throughout the East.

In the West, the honours paid to St. Michael are of later date : that
a church dedicated to him must have existed in Rome long before the
year 600 seems clear, because at that time it is mentioned as having
fallen into ruin. But the West had its angelic apparitions as well
as the East, and St. Michael owes his wide-spread popularity in the
middle ages to three famous visions which are thus recorded.

In the fifth century, in the city of Siponte, in Apulia (now Manfre-
donia), dwelt a man named Galgano or Garganus, very rich in cattle,
sheep, and beasts ; and as they pastured on the sides of the mountain,
it happened that a bull strayed and came not home ; then the rich
man took a multitude of servants and sought the bull, and found him
at the entrance of a cave on the very summit of the mountain, and,
being wroth with the bull, the master ordered him to be slain ; but
when the arrow was sent from the bow it returned to the bosom of
him who sent it, and he fell dead on the ground : then the master and
his servants were troubled, and they sent to inquire of the bishop what
should be done. The bishop, having fasted and prayed three days,
beheld in a vision the glorious Archangel Michael, who descended
on the mountain, and told him that the servant had been slain
because he had violated a spot peculiarly sacred to him, and he com-
manded that a church should be erected and sanctified there to his
honour. And when they entered the cavern they found there three

VOL. I, a

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

altars already erected, one of tliem covered with a rich embroidered altar-
cloth of crimson and gold, and a stream of limpid water springing from
the rock which healed all diseases. So the chmxh was built, and the
fame of the vision of Monte Galgano, though for some time confined
to the south of Italy, spread throughout Europe, and many pilgrim-
ages were made to the spot on which the angelic footsteps had
alighted.

The second vision is much more imposing. When Rome was nearly
depopulated by a pestilence in the sixth century, St. Gregory, after-
wards pope, advised that a procession should be made through the
streets of the city, singing the service since called the Great Litanies.
He placed himself at the head of the faithful, and during three days
they perambulated the city ; and on the third day, when they had
arrived opposite to the mole of Hadrian, Gregory beheld the Archangel
Michael alight on the summit of that monument, and sheathe his
sT^rd, bedropped with blood. Then Gregory knew that the plague
was stayed, and a church was there dedicated to the honour of the
Archangel : and the Tomb of Hadrian has since been called the
Castle of Sant' Angelo to this day.

This, of all the recorded apparitions of St. Michael, is the only one
which can be called poetical ; it is evidently borrowed from the vision
of the destroying angel in Scripture. As early as the ninth century,
a church or chapel dedicated to St. Michael was erected on the summit
of the huge monument, which at that time must have preserved much
of its antique magnificence. The church was entitled Ecclesia Sancti
Angeli usque ad Ccelos, The bronze statue, which in memory of this
miracle now surmounts the Castle of St. Angelo, was placed there in
recent times by Benedict XIY., and is the work of a Flemish sculptor,
Verschaffelt. I suppose no one ever looked at this statue critically —
at least, for myself, I never could : nor can I remember now, whether,
as a work of art, it is above or below criticism ; perhaps both. With
its vast wings, poised in air, as seen against the deep blue skies of
Rome, or lighted up by the golden sunset, to me it was ever like what
it was intended to represent — like a vision.

A third apparition was that accorded to Aubert, bishop of Avranches
(a.d. 706). This holy man seems to have been desirous to attract to
his own diocese a portion of that sanctity (and perhaps other advan-

Sr. MICHAEL.

tages) wliich Monte Galgano derived from the worship of St. Michael.
In the Gulf of Avranches, in Normandy, stands a lofty isolated rock
inaccessible from the land at high water, and for ages past celebrated
as one of the strongest fortresses and state prisons in France. In the
reign of Childebert II., St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, had a vision,
in which the Archangel Michael commanded him to repair to this rock,
then the terror of mariners, and erect a church to his honour on the
highest point, where a bull would be found concealed, and it was to
cover as much space as the bull had trampled with his hoofs ; he also
discovered to the bishop a well-spring of pure water, which had before
been unknown. As the bishop treated this command as a dream, the
Archangel appeared to him a second and a third time ; and at length,
to impress it on his waking memory, he touched his head with his
thumb, and made a mark or hole in his skull, which he carried to the
grave. This time the, bishop obeyed, and a small church was built
on the spot indicated ; afterwards replaced by the magnificent Abbey
Church, which was begun by Richard duke of Normandy, in 966, and
finished by William the Conqueror. The poverty of invention shown
in this legend, which is little more than a repetition of that of Monte
Galgano, is very disappointing to the fancy, considering the celebrity
of Mont-Saint-Michel as a place of pilgrimage, and as one of the
most picturesque objects in European scenery, with its massive towers,
which have braved the tempests of a thousand years, rising from the
summit of the peak, and the sea weltering round its base. It failed
not, however, in the effect anticipated. The worship of St. Michael
became popular in France from the ninth century ; the Archangel
was selected as patron saint of France, and of the military order
instituted in his honour by Louis XL in ^469. The worship paid to
St. Michael as patron saint of Normandy naturally extended itself
to England after the Norman conquest, and churches dedicated to
this archangel abound in all the towns and cities along the southern
and eastern shores of our island ; we also have a Mount St. Michael
on the coast of Cornwall, in situation and in name resembling that
on the coast of France. At this day there are few cities in Chris-
tendom which do not contain a church or churches dedicated to St.
Michael, s-ome of them of great antiquity.

I must /lot omit that St. Michael is considered as the angel of good

100 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

counsel : — that ^ Le vrai office de Monseigneur Saint Michel est de
faire grandes revelations aux hommes en has, en leur donnant moult
saints conseils,' and in particular, ' sur le bon nourissement que le
pere et la mere donnent a leurs enfans.' ^ It is to be regretted that
' Monseigneur Saint Michel ' should be found rather remiss in this
part of his angelic functions.

We shall now see how far these various traditions and popular
notions concerning St. Michael have been carried out in Art.

In all representations of St. Michael, the leading idea, well or ill
expressed, is the same. He is young and beautiful, but * severe in
youthful beauty,' as one who carries on a perpetual contest with the
powers of evil. In the earlier works of art he is robed in white, with
ample many-coloured wings, and bears merely the sceptre or the lance
surmounted by a cross, as one who conquered by spiritual might alone.
But in the later representations, those coloured by the spirit of
chivalry, he is the angelic Paladin, armed in a dazzling coat of mail,
with sword, and spear, and shield. He has a lofty open brow, long
fair hair floating on his shoulders, sometimes bound by a jewelled
tiara; sometimes, but not often, shaded by a helmet. From his
shoulders spring two resplendent wings. Thus we see him standing
by the throne of the Madonna, or worshipping at the feet of the
Divine Infant ; an exquisite allegory of spiritual and intellectual
power protecting purity and adoring innocence.

There is a most beautiful little figure by Angelico, of St. Michael
standing in his character of archangel and patron of the Church
Militant, ^as the winged saint; ' no demon, no attribute except the
lance and ghield. The attitude, so tranquilly elegant, may be seen
in this sketch (34). In the original the armour is of a dark crimson
and gold, the wings are of rainbow tints, vivid and delicate ; a flame
of lambent fire rests on the brow.

But the single devotional figures of St. Michael usually represent
him as combining the two great characters of captain of the heavenly
host, and conqueror of the powers of hell. He stands armed, setting
his foot on Lucifer, either in the half-human or the dragon form, and
is about to transfix him with his lance, or to chain him down in the

* Le Livre des Angeles de Dieu, MS. Paris Bibl. Nat.

ST. MICHAEL.

101

infernal abyss. Such, however varied in the attitude, expression,
and accessories, is the most frequent and popular representation of
St. Michael, when placed before us,
as the universally received emblem of
the final victory of good over evil.

In those churches of Christendom
which have not been defaced by a
blind destructive zeal, this image
meets us at every turn : it salutes us
in the porch as we enter, or it shines
upon us in gorgeous colours from the
window, or it is wreathed into the
capitals of columns, or it stands in its
holy heroic beauty over the altar. It
is so common and so in harmony with
our inmost being, that we rather feel
its presence than observe it. It is the
visible, palpable reflection of that great
truth stamped into our very souls,
and shadowed forth in every form of
ancient belief, — the final triumph of
the spiritual over the animal and
earthly part of our nature. This is the
secret of its perpetual repetition, and
this the secret of the untired compla-
cency with which we regard it ; for
even in the most inefficient attempts
at expression, we have always the
leading motif distinct and true, tlie
winged virtue is always victorious
above, and the bestial vice is always
prostrate below ; and if to tliis primal
moral sio:nificance be added all the

(Angelico, Fl. Acad )

charm of poetry, grace, animated

movement, which human genius has

lavished on this ever blessed, ever welcome symbol, then, as we

look up at it, we are ^ not only touched, but wakened and inspired,'

102 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

and the whole delighted imagination glows with faith and hope, and
grateful triumphant sympathy, — so at least I have felt, and I must
believe that others have felt it too.

In the earliest representations of this subject, we see the simplest
form of the allegory, literally rendering the words of Scripture, ^ The
dragon shalt thou trample under foot' (Ps. xci. 13). Here there is
no risk of a divided interest or a misdirected sympathy. The demon,
grovelling under the feet of the victorious spirit, is not the star-
bright apostate who drew after him the third part of heaven ; it is
the bestial malignant reptile : — not the emblem of resistance, but the
emblem of sin ; not of the sin that aspires, which, in fact, is a con-
tradiction in terms ; — no sin aspires ; — but of the sin which degrades
and brutifies, as all sin does. In the later representations, where
the demon takes the half-human shape, however hideous and deformed,
the allegory may so be brought nearer to us, and rendered more ter-
rible even by a horrid sympathy with that human face, grinning in
despite and agony ; but much of the beauty of the scriptural metaphor
is lost.-^

The representations of St. Michael and the dragon are so multi-
farious that I can only select a few among them as examples of the
different styles of treatment.

The symbol, as such, is supposed to have originated with the
Gnostics and Arians, and the earliest examples are to be found in the
ancient churches on the western coast of Italy, and the old Lombard
churches. I have never seen it in the old mosaics of the sixth cen-
tury, but in the contemporary sculpture frequently. It would be diffi-
cult to point to the most ancient example, such is the confusion of
dates as regards dedications, restorations, alterations ; but I remem-
ber a carving in white marble on the porch of the Cathedral of Cor-
tona (about the seventh century), which may be regarded as an

^ Dr. Arnold has some characteristic remarks on the half-human effigies of Satan ; he
objects to the Miltouic representation : — * By giving a human likeness, and representing
him as a bad man, you necessarily get some image of what is good, as well as of what is
bad, for no man is entirely evil.' — ' The hoofs, the horns, the tail, were all useful in this
way, as giving you an image of something altogether disgusting ; and so Mephistophiles,
and the utterly contemptible and hateful character of the Little Master in Sintram, are far
more true than the Paradise Lost.' — Life, vol. ii.

ST. MICHAEL.

103

example of this primitive style of treatment :
the illustration, from a slight sketch made
on the spot, will be better than any descrip-
tion (35).

Another instance will be remembered by
the traveller in Italy, the strange antique
bas-relief on the facade of that extraordinary
old church the San Michele at Pavia; not
the figure in the porch, which is modern, but
that which is above. In the Menologium
Grecum is a St. Michael standing with a
long sceptre, a majestic colossal figure, while
kneeling angels adore him, and the demons
crouch under his feet.^

By Martin Schoen : St. Michael, attired
in a long loose robe and floating mantle,
tramples on the demon ; he has thrown down
the shield, and with his lance in both hands, but without effort, and
even with a calm angelic dignity, prepares to transfix his adversary.
The figure is singularly elegant. The demon has not here the usual
form of a dragon, but is a horrible nondescript reptile, with multitu-
dinous flexile claws, like those of a crab, stretched out to seize and
entangle the unwary ; — for an emblematical figure, very significant
(36). In an old fresco by Guariente di Padova'^ the angel is draped
as in Martin Schoen's figure, but the attitude is far less elegant.

Sometimes the dragon has a small head at the end of his tail, in-
stead of the forked string. I recollect an instance of St. Michael
transfixing the large head, while a smaller angel, also armed, transfixes
the other head.^ This is an attempt to render literally the description
in the Apocalypse : ^ For their power is in their mouth, and in their
tails : for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and
with them they do hurt ' (Rev. ix. 19). In a most elegant figure
of St. Michael, from the choir of the San Giovanni, at Malta, I
found the demon thus characterised, with a tail ending in the serpent
head.

^ Vatican MSS., No. 1(;13, a.d. 989. 2 ^j,^ i^Qo. Eremitani. Padu:

" Greek Apocalypse MS. Paris Bibl. Nat.

104

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

St Michael. (Martin Schoea )

In an old Siena picture^ St. Michael is seated on a throne : in one
hand a sword, in the other the orb of sovereignty ; under his feet lies
the dragon mangled -and bleeding : a bad picture, but curious for the
singular treatment.

In the sixteenth century these figures of St. Michael become less
ideal and angelic, and more and more chivalrous and picturesque. In
a beautiful altar-piece by Andrea del Sarto, now in the Florence
Academy, there is a fine martial figure of the Archangel, which, but
for the wings, might be mistaken for a St. George; and in the predella
underneath, on a small scale, he is conqueror of the demon. The

1 Siena Acad.

f»T. MICHAEL.

105

peculiarity here is, that the demon, though vanquished, makes a vain
struggle, and has seized hold of the belt of the angel, who, with
uplifted sword, and an action of infinite grace and dignity, looks
superior down, as one assured of victory.

Raphael has given us three figures of St. Michael, all difi'erent,
and one of them taking rank with his masterpieces.

The first is an early production, painted when he was a youth of
nineteen or twenty, and now in the Louvre. St. Michael armed with
a shield on which is a red cross, his sword raised to strike, stands
with one foot on a monster; other horrible little monsters, like figures
in a dream, are around him : in the background are seen the hypocrites
and thieves as described by Dante ; the first, in melancholy pro-
cession, weighed down with leaden cowls ; the others, tormented by
snakes : and, in the distance, the flaming dolorous city. St. Michael
is here the vanquisher of the Vices. It is a curious and fantastic,
rather than poetical, little picture.

The second picture, also in the Louvre, was painted by Raphael, in
the maturity of his talent, for Francis L : the king had left to him
the choice of the subject, and he selected St. Michael, the military
patron of France, and of that knightly Order of which the king was
Grand Master.

St. Michael — not standing, but hovering on his poised wings,
and grasping his lance in both hands — sets one foot lightly on the
shoulder of the demon, who, prostrate, writhes up, as it were, and
tries to lift his head and turn it on his conqueror with one last gaze
of malignant rage and despair. The archangel looks down upon
him with a brow calm and serious ; in his beautiful face is neither
vengeance nor disdain — in his attitude no effort ; his form, a model
ofj^outhful grace and majesty, is clothed in a brilliant panoply of
gold and silver ; an azure scarf floats on his shoulders ; his wide-
spread wings are of purple, blue, and gold ; his light hair is raised,
and floats outward on each side of his head, as if from the swiftness
of his downward motion. The earth emits flames, and seems opening
to swallow up the adversary. The form of the demon is human, but
vulgar in its proportions, and of a swarthy red, as if fire-scathed ; he
has the horns and the serpent- tail; but, from the attitude into which
he is thrown, the monstrous form is so fore-shortened that it does not

■VOL. I. o

106

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

The St. Michael painted by Raphael for Francis I.

disgust, and the majestic figure of the archangel fills up nearly the
whole space — fills the eye — fills the soul — with its victorious beauty.
That Milton had seen this picture, and that when his sight was
quenched the ' winged saint ' revisited him in his darkness, who can
doubt?—

Over his lucid arms
A military vest of purple flowed
Livelier than Meliboean, or the grain
Of Sarra worn by kings and heroes old
In time of truce.

ST. MICHAEL. 107

By his side,
As in a glittering zodiac, hung the sword,
Satan's dire dread, and in his hand the spear.

A third St. Michael, designed by Eaphael, exists only as an
engraving.^ The angel here wears a helmet, and is classically
draped ; he stands in an attitude of repose, his foot on the neck of
the demon ; one hand rests on the pummel of his sword, the other
holds the lance.

It seems agreed that, as a work of art, there is only the St. Michael
of Guido (in the Capuccini at Eome) which can be compared with
that of Raphael ; the moment chosen is the same ; the treatment
nearly the same ; the sentiment quite different.

Here the angel, standing, yet scarcely touching the ground, poised
on his outspread wings, sets his left foot on the head of his adversary ;
in one hand he brandishes a sword, in the other he holds the end of
a chain, with which he is about to bind down the demon in the
bottomless pit. The attitude has been criticised, and justly; the
grace is somewhat mannered, verging on the theatrical ; but Forsyth
is too severe when he talks of the ' air of a dancing-master : ' one
thing, however, is certain, we do not think about attitude when we
look at Raphael's St. Michael ; in Guide's, it is the first thing that
strikes us ; but when we look farther, the head redeems all ; it is
singularly beautiful, and in the blending of the masculine and
feminine graces, in the serene purity of the brow, and the flow of the
golden hair, there is something divine : a slight, very slight expres-
sion of scorn is in the air of the head. The fiend is the worst part of
the picture ; it is not a fiend, but a degraded prosaic human ruffian ;
we laugh with incredulous contempt at the idea of an angel called
down from heaven to overcome such a wretch. In Raphael the fiend
is human, but the head has the god-like ugliness and malignity of a
satyr ; Guido's fiend is only stupid and base. It appears to me that
there is just the same difference — the same hind of difference —
between the angel of Raphael and the angel of Guido, as between
the description in Tasso and the description in Milton ; let any one
compare them. In Tasso we are struck by the picturesque elegance
of the description as a piece of art. the melody of the verse, the

* By Marco di Ravenna. Bartsch, xiv. IOC.

ICS SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

admirable choice of the expressions, as in Guido by the finished but
somewhat artificial and studied grace. In Kaphael and Milton we
see only the vision of a ' shape divine.'

One of the most beautiful figures of St. Michael I ever saw, occurs
in a coronation of the Virgin by Moretto, and is touched by his
peculiar sentiment of serious tenderness.^

In devotional pictures such figures of St, Michael are sometimes
grouped poetically with other personages, as in a most beautiful
picture by Innocenza da Imola,^ where the archangel tramples on
the demon ; St. Paul standing on one side, and St. Benedict on the
other, both of whom had striven with the fiend and had overcome
him : the Madonna and Child are seen in a glory above.

And again in a picture by Mabuse,^ where St. Michael, as patron,
sets his foot on the black grinning fiend, and looks down on a kneel-
ing votary, while the votary, with his head turned away, appears
to be worshipping, not the protecting angel, but the Madonna, to
whom St. Michael presents him (38). Such votive pictures are not
uncommon, and have a peculiar grace and significance. Here the
archangel bears the victorious banner of the cross; — he has con-
quered. In some instances he holds in his hand the head of the
Dragon, and in all instances it is, or ought to be, the head of the
Dragon which is transfixed : — ' Thou shalt bruise his head.'

Those representations in which St. Michael is not conqueror, but
combatant, in which the moment is one of transition, are less frequent;
it is then an action, not an emblem, and the composition is historical
rather than symbolical. It is the strife with Lucifer ; ^ when Michael
and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought
and his angels, and the great dragon was cast out.' (Rev. xii. 7.) In
churches and chapels dedicated to St. Michael, or to ' the Holy Angels,'
this appropriate subject often occurs ; as in a famous fresco by Spinello
d'Arezzo, at Arezzo.* In the middle of the composition, Michael,
armed with sword and shield, is seen combating the dragon with
seven heads, as described in the Apocalypse. Above and around are
many angels also armed. At the top of the picture is seen an empty

^ Brescia. S. Maria clelle Grazie,

2 Milan, Brera. ' Boisserde Gallery.

* A.D. 1400. Engraved in Litsinio's 'Early Florentine Masters.'

ST. MICHAEL.

38

St. Michael. (ISIabuse, 1510.)

throne, the throne which Lucifer had ' set in the north ; ' below is seen
Lucifer, falling with his angels over the parapet of heaven. (Isaiah xiv.
13.) The painter tasked his skill to render the transformation of the
spirits of light into spirits of darkness as fearful and as hideous as
possible ; and, being a man of a nervous temperament, the continual
dwelling on these horrors began at length to trouble his brain. He
fancied that Lucifer appeared to him in a dream, demanding by what
authority he had portrayed him under an aspect so revolting ? — the

no SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

painter awoke in liorror, was seized with delirious fever, and so
died.

In his combat with the dragon, Michael is sometimes represented
alone, and sometimes as assisted by the two other archangels, Gabriel
and Eaphael : as in the fresco by Signorelli, at Orvieto, where one
of the angels, whom we may suppose to be Eaphael, looks down on
the falling demons with an air of melancholy, almost of pity.

In a picture by Marco Oggione,^ Michael has precipitated the demon
into the gulf, and hovers above, while Eaphael and Gabriel stand
below on each side, looking on ; all are clothed in voluminous loose
white draperies, more like priests than warriors ; but it is a i^ne
picture.

In the large Eubens-room at Munich, there are two pictures of Mi-
chael subduing the revolted angels. The large one, in which Michael
is the principal figure, is not agreeable. Eubens could not lift himself
sufficiently above the earth to conceive and embody the spiritual, and
heroic, and beautiful in one divine form; his St. Michael is vulgar.
The smaller composition, where the fallen, or rather falling, angels fill
the whole space, is a most wonderful effort of artistic invention. At
the summit of the picture stands St. Michael, the shield in one hand,
in the other the forked lightnings of divine wrath; and from above the
rebel host tumble headlong ' in hideous ruin and combustion hurled,'
and with such affright and amazement in every face, such a downward
movement in every limb, that we recoil in dizzy horror while we look
upon it. It is curious that Eubens should have introduced female re-
probate spirits : if he intended his picture as an allegory, merely the
conquest of the spiritual over the sensual, he is excusable ; but if he
meant to figure the vision in the Apocalypse, it is a deviation from the
proper scriptural treatment, which is inexcusable. This picture remains,
however, as a whole, a perfect miracle of art : the fault is, that we feel
inclined to applaud as we do at some astonishing tour deforce; such at
least was my own feeling, and this is not the feeling appropriate to the
subject. Though this famous picture is entitled the Fall of the Angels,
I have some doubts as to whether this was the intention of the painter ^
whether he did not mean to express the fall of sinners, flung by the
Angel of judgment into the abyss of wrath and perdition?

* Milan. Brera-

ST. MICHAEL.

Ill

33

St. Michael as Ans^el of Judgment and Lord of Souls. (Ju.stice of Ghent.)

In those devotional pictures which exhibit St. Michael as Lord of
souls, he is winged and unarmed, and holds the balance. In each
scale sits a little naked figure, representing a human soul ; one of
these is usually represented with hands joined as in thankfulness —
he is the heato^ the elected ; the other is in an attitude of horror — he
is the rejected, the reprobate ; and often, but not necessarily, the idea
is completed by the introduction of a demon, who is grasping at the
descending scale, either with his talons, or with the long two-pronged
hook, such as is given to Pluto in the antique sculpture.

Sometimes St. Michael is thus represented singly; sometimes very
beautifully in Madonna pictures, as in a picture by Leonardo da Vinci
(a.d. 1498), where St. Michael, a graceful angelic figure, with light
flowing hair, kneels before the Madonna, and presents the balance to

112

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

40

St. Michael. (Signorelli, 1600, In the Sau Gregorio, Rome.)

the Infant, who seems to welcome the pious little soul who sits in
the uppermost scale.

I have seen this idea varied. St Michael stands majestic with the
balance poised in his hands : instead of a human figure in either scale,
there are weights; on one side is seen a company of five or six little
naked shivering souls, as if waiting for their doom ; on the other
several demons, one of whom with his hook is pulling down the
ascending scale.^ With or without the balance, St Michael figures
as Lord of souls when introduced into pictures of the Assumption or
the Glorification of the Virgin. To understand the whole beauty and
propriety of such representations, we must remember that, according
to one of the legends of the death of the Virgin, her spirit was con-

^ Psalter of St. Louis, Bib. de 1' Arsenal, Paris,

ST. MICHAEL. jjs

signed to the care of St. Michael until it was permitted to reanimate
the spotless form, and with it ascend to heaven.

In one or two instances only, I have seen St. Michael without wings.
In general, an armed figure, unwinged and standing on a dragon, we
may presume to be a St. George; but where the balance is introduced,
it leaves no doubt of the personality — it is a St. Michael. Occasionally
the two characters — the protecting Angel of light and the Angel of
judgment — are united, and we see St. Michael, with the dragon under
his feet and the balance in his hand. This was a favourite and appro-
priate subject on tombs and chapels dedicated to the dead; such is
the beautiful bas-relief on the tomb of Henry YII. in Westminster
Abbey.

In some representations of the Last Judgment, St. Michael, instead
of the banner and cross, bears the scales ; as in the very curious bas-
relief on the facade of the church of St. Trophime at Aries. St.
Michael here has a balance so large that it is almost as high as
himself; it is not a mere emblem, but a fact; a soul sits in each scale,
and a third is rising up ; the angel holds out one hand to assist him.
In another part of the same bas-relief St. Michael is seen carrying a
human soul (represented as a little naked figure) and bringing it to
St. Peter and St. Paul. In a celebrated Last Judgment, attributed
by some authors to John Yan Eyck, by others to Justus of Ghent,
St. Michael is grandly introduced.^ High up, in the centre, sits
the Saviour, with the severe expression of the judge. Above Him
hover four angels with the instruments of the Passion, and below
Him three others sounding trumpets {v. p. 54). — I suppose the seven
pre-eminent angels : the Virgin and St. John the Baptist on
each side, and then the Apostles ranged in the usual manner.
^ In the lower half of the picture stands St. Michael, clad in golden
armour, so bright as to reflect in the most complete manner all th(
surrounding objects. His figure is slender and elegant, but colossal
as compared to the rest. He seems to be bending earnestly forward,
a splendid purple mantle falls from his shoulders to the ground, and
his large wings are composed of glittering peacock's feathers. He
holds the balance ; the scale with the good rests on earth, but that
with the souls which are found wanting mounts into the air. A demon

' See ante, p. Ill, for the figure of St. Michael.
VOL. I. P

lU SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

stands ready to receive them, and towards this scale St. Michael
points with the end of a black staff which he holds in his right hand.'
This picture, which is a chef-d'oeuvre of the early German school, is
now in the church of St. Mary at Dantzig.

The historical subjects in which St. Michael is introduced exhibit
him as prince of the Hebrew nation, and belong properly to the Old
Testament.^ ^ After the confusion of tongues, and the scattering
of the people, which occurred on the building of the Tower of
Babel, every separate nation had an angel to direct it. To Michael
was given in charge the people of the Lord. The Hebrews being
carried away captive into the land of Assyria, Daniel prayed that
they might be permitted to return when the seventy years of
captivity were over; but the Angel of Persia opposed himself on
this occasion to the angels Michael and Gabriel. He wished to
retain the Jews in captivity, because he was glad to have, within
the bounds of his jurisdiction, a people who served the true God,
and because he hoped that in time the captive Jews would convert
to the truth the Assyrians and Persians committed to his care.'
This curious passage from one of the early Christian fathers, repre-
senting the good angels as opposed to each other, and one of them
as disputing the commands of God, is an instance of the confused
ideas on the subject of angels which prevailed in the ancient Church,
and which prevail, I imagine, in the minds of many even at this
day.

In the story of Hagar in the wilderness, it is Michael who de-
scends to her aid. In the sacrifice of Isaac, it is Michael who stays
the arm of Abraham. It is Michael who brings the plagues on Egypt,
and he it is who leads the Israelites through the wilderness. It was
the belief of the Jews, and of some of the early Christian fathers,
that through his angel (not in person) God spoke to Moses from the
burning bush, and delivered to him the law on Mount Sinai ; and
that the angel so delegated was Michael.

It is Michael who combats with Lucifer for the body of Moses.
( Jude ver. 9.) According to one interpretation of this curious passage

* St. Ephrem, Bib. Orient, torn. i. p. 78. De Beausobre, vol. ii. p. 17.

ST. MICHAEL. 115

of Scripture, the demon wished to enter and to possess the form of
Moses, in order to deceive the Jews by personating their leader ;
but others say, that Michael contended for the body, that he might
bury it in an unknown place, lest the Jews should fall into the sin
of paying divine honours to their legislator. This is a fine pic-
turesque subject ; the rocky desert, the body of Moses dead on the
earth, the contest of the good and evil angel confronting each other,
— these are grand materials ! It must have been rarely treated, for
I remember but one instance — the fresco by L. Signorelli, in the
Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.

It is Michael who intercepts Balaam^ when on his way to curse the
people of Israel, and puts blessings into his mouth instead of curses :
a subject often treated, but as a fact rather than a vision.

It is Michael who stands before Joshua in the plain by Jericho : —
' And Joshua said unto him. Art thou for ns, or for our adversaries ?
And he said, Nay ; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now
come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship,
and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the
captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off
thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy.' (Joshua v.
13-15.) This subject is very uncommon. In the Greek MS. already
alluded to, I met with a magnificent example — magnificent in point
of sentiment, though half ruined and effaced ; the God-like bearing
of the armed angel, looking down on the prostrate Joshua, is here as
fine as possible.

It is Michael who appears to Gideon.^ It is Michael who chastises
David.^ It is Michael who exterminates the army of Sennacherib ; a
subject magnificently painted by Eubens. (Some suppose that on
this occasion God made use of the ministry of an evil angel."*)

It is Michael who descends to deliver the Three Children from the
burning fiery furnace. The Three Children in the furnace is a subject
which appears very early in the catacombs and on the sarcophagi as
a symbol of the Redemption ; — so early, that it is described by Ter-
tullian ; ^ but in almost all the examples given there are three figures

1 Didrou, Manuel grec, p. 101. " Judges vi. 11.

» 2 Sam. xxiv. 16. * Calmet.

* De Oratione, cap. xii.

116 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

only: where there is a fourth, it is, of course, the protecting angel,
but he is without wings. ^

Michael seizes the prophet Habakkuk by the hair of the head, and
carries him to Babylon, to the den of lions, that he may feed Daniel.^
This apocryphal subject occurs on several sarcophagi.^ I have seen
it also in illuminated MSS., but cannot at this moment refer to it.
It occurs in a series of late Flemish prints after Hemskirk, — of which
there are good impressions in the British Museum.

The Archangel Michael is not named in the Gospels ; but in the
legends of the Madonna, as we shall see hereafter, he plays a very
important part, being deputed by Christ to announce to His mother
her approaching end, and to receive her soul. For the present I will
only remark, that when, in accordance with this very ancient legend,
an angel is represented kneeling before the Madonna, and holding in
his hand a palm surmounted by stars, or a lighted taper, this angel
is not Gabriel, announcing the conception of Christ, as is usually
supposed, but Michael, as the angel of death.*

The legend of Monte Galgano I saw in a large fresco, in the Santa
Crgce at Florence, by a painter of the Giotto school : but in so bad a
state, that I could only make out a bull on the top of a mountain,
and a man shooting with a bow and arrow. On the opposite wall is
the combat of Michael with the dragon — very spirited, and in much
better preservation. To distinguish the apparition of St. Michael on
Monte Galgano from the apparition on Mont St. Michel, in both of
which a bull and a bishop are principal figures, it is necessary to
observe, that, in the last-named subject, the sea is always introduced
at the base of the picture, and that the former is most common in
Italian, and the latter in French, works of art. In the French
stained glass of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, St. Michael
is a very popular subject, either with the dragon, or the scales, or
both.

Lately, in removing the whitewash from the east wall of the nave

J Bottari, Tab. xxii. On the early Christian sarcophagi, as I have already observed, there
are no winged angels. In the oft-repeated subject of the * Three Children in the burning
fiery furnace,' the fourth figure, when introduced, may represent a son of God,— i.e., ai:
angel ; or the Son of God, i.e., Christ, as it has been interpreted in both senses.

* Bel and the Dragon, 26. ^ Bottari, 15, 49, 84. * See * Legends of the Madonna.'

KT. MICHAET,.

117

of Preston Church, near Brighton, was discovered the outline of a
group of figures representing St. Michael, fully draped, and with large
wings, bearing the balance ; in each scale a human soul. The scale
containing the beato is assisted by a figure fully draped, but so ruined
that it is not possible to say whether it represents the Virgin, or the
guardian saint of the person who caused the fresco to be painted. I
am told that in the old churches of Cornwall, and of the towns on
the south coast, which had frequent intercourse with France, effigies
of St. Michael occur frequently, both in painting and sculpture. On
the old English coin, thence called an angel ^ we have the figure of
St. Michael, who was one of the patron saints of our Norman kings.
I must now trust to the reader to contemplate the figures of St.
Michael, so frequent and so varied in Art, with reference to these
suggestions ; and leaving for the present this radiant Spirit, this
bright similitude of a primal and universal faith, we turn to his
angelic companions.

41 Egyptian hieroglyphic of the Genius of Good overcoming Evil (t>. p. 108).

118 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

St. Gabriel.

Lat. Sanctus Gabriel. Ital. Sau Gabriello, San Gabriele, L'Angelo Annunziatcrc.

Fr. St. Gabriel.

* I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God,' — Luke i. 19.

In those passages of Scripture where the Angel Gabriel is mentioned
by name, he is brought before us in the character of a Messenger only,
and always on important occasions. In the Old Testament he is sent
to Daniel to announce the return of the Jews from captivity and to ex-
plain the vision which prefigures the destinies of mighty empires. His
contest with the Angel of the kingdom of Persia, when St. Michael
comes to his assistance, would be a splendid subject in fit hands ; I
do not know that it has ever been painted. In the New Testament
the mission of Gabriel is yet more sublime : he first appears to the
high priest Zacharias, and foretells the birth of John the Baptist, —
a subject which belongs especially to the life of that saint. Six
months later, Gabriel is sent to announce the appearance of the
Redeemer of mankind.^

In the Jewish tradition, Gabriel is the guardian of the celestial
treasury. Hence, I j)resume, Milton has made him chief guardian
of Paradise : —

Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat,
Chief of the angelic guards, awaiting night.

As the Angel who announced the birth of Christ, he has been
venerated as the Angel who presides over childbirth. He foretells
the birth of Samson, and, in the apocryphal legends, he foretells to
Joachim the birth of the Virgin. In the East, he is of great im-
portance. Mahomet selected him as his immediate teacher and
inspirer, and he became the great protecting angel of Islamism :
lience between Michael, the protector of the Jews and Christians,

^ • The stone on which stood the angel Gabriel when he announced to the most Blessed
Virgin the great mystery of the Incarnation,* is among the relics enumerated as existing
in the church of the Santa Croce at Rome,

ST. GABRIEL. up

and Gabriel, the protector of the Moslem, there is supposed to exist
no friendly feeling — rather the reverse.

In the New Testament, Gabriel is a much more important person-
age than Michael ; yet I have never met with any picture in which
he figures singly as an object of worship. In devotional pictures he
figures as the second of the three Archangels — ' Secondo fra i primi,'
as Tasso styles him; or in his peculiar character as the divine
messenger of grace, ' rAngelo annunziatore.^ He then usually bears
in one hand a lily or a sceptre ; in the other a scroll on which is
inscribed, ' Ave Makia, Gratia plena ! ' ^

The subject called the Ai^unciation is one of the most frequent
and most important, as it is one of the most beautiful, in the whole
range of Christian Art. It belongs, however, to the history of the
Virgin, where I shall have occasion to treat it at length ; yet as the
Angel Gabriel here assumes, by direct scriptural testimony, a distinct
name and personality, and as the dignity and significance proper to
a subject so often unworthily and perversely treated depend very
much on the character and deportment given to the celestial mes-
senger, I shall make a few observations in this place with respect
to the treatment of the ang^l, only reserving the theme in its general
bearing for future consideration.

In the early representations of the Annunciation it is treated as a
religious mystery, and with a solemn simplicity and purity of feeling,
which is very striking and graceful in itself, as well as in harmony with
the peculiar manner of the divine revelation. The scene is generally
a porch or portico of a temple-like building ; the Virgin stands (she is
very seldom seated, and then on a kind of raised throne) ; the angel
stands before her, at some distance : very often, she is within the
portico ; he is without. Gabriel is a majestic being, generally robed in
white, wearing the tunic and pallium a V antique^ his flowing hair bound
by a jewelled tiara, with large many-coloured wings, and bearing the
sceptre of sovereignty in the left hand, while the right is extended in
the act of benediction as well as salutation : * Hail ! thou that art

^ In Paradise he sings for ever the famous salutation : —

Cantando Ave Maria gratia 'plena
Dinanzi a lei le sue ali distese.

Dante, Par. 32,

I

120

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

highly favoured I Blessed art thou among women ! ' He is the
principal figure : the attitude of the Virgin, with her drapery drawn
over her head, her eyes drooping, and her hands folded on her bosom,
is always expressive of the utmost submission and humility. So
Dante introduces the image of the lowly Virgin receiving the angel
as an illustration of the virtue of Humility : —

Ed avea in atto impressa esta favella
' Ecce ancilla Dei ! '—

and Flaxman has admirably embodied this idea, both in the lofty
angel with outspread arms, and the kneeling Virgin. Sometimes

42

the angel floats in, with his arms crossed over his bosom, but still
with the air of a superior being, as in this beautiful figure after
Lorenzo Monaco, from a picture in the Florence Gallery.

ST. GABRIEL. jj-

The two figures are not always in the same picture ; it was a very
general custom to place the Virgin and the Angel, the ^Annuuziata'
and the ' Aiigelo annunziatore,' one on each side of the altar, the
place of the Virgin being usually to the right of the spectator; some-
times the figures are half-length : sometimes, when placed in the
same picture, they are in two separate compartments, a pillar, or
some other ornament, running up the picture between them ; as in
many old altar-pieces, where the two figures are placed above
or on each side of the !N"ativity, or the Baptism, or the Marriage at
Cana, or some other scene from the life and miracles of our Saviour.
This subject does not appear on the sarcophagi ; the earliest instance
I have met wdth is in the mosaic series over the arch in front of the
choir in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, at Eome, executed in
the fifth century. Here we have two successive moments represented
together. In the first the angel is sent on his mission, and appears
flying down from heaven ; the earliest instance I have seen of an
angel in the act of flight. In the second group the Virgin appears
seated on a throne; two angels stand behind her, supposed to
represent her guardian angels, and the angel Gabriel stands in front
with one hand extended. The dresses are classical, and there is
not a trace of the mediasval feeling, or style, in the whole composi-
tion.

In the Greek pictures, the Angel and the Virgin both stand ; and
in the Annunciation of Cimabue the Greek formula is strictly
adhered to. I have seen pictures, of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, in which Gabriel enters as a princely ambassador, with
three little angels bearing up his mantle behind : in a picture in the
collection of Prince Wallerstein, one meek and beautiful angel bear*
up the rich robes of the majestic archangel, like a page in the train
of a sovereign prince. But from the beginning of the fourteenth
century we perceive a change of feeling, as well as a change of style
the veneration paid to the Virgin demanded another treatment. She
becomes not merely the principal person, but the superior being; she
is the ' Regina angelorum,' and the angel bows to her, or kneels
before her as to a queen. ^ Thus in the famous altar-piece at Cologne,

1 See the Ursuliue Manual. * When an angel anciently appeared to the patriarchs or
prophets, he was received with due honour as being exalted above them, both by nature
VOL I. Q

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

>iTiTmnnTinHi)iii'iiii

43 The Angel Gabriel. (Wilhelm of Cologne. 1440.)

the angel kneels ; he bears a sceptre, and also a sealed roll, as if he
were a celestial ambassador delivering his credentials : about the same
period we sometimes see the angel merely with his hands folded over
his breast, and his head inclined, delivering his message as if to a
superior being.

I cannot decide at what period the lily first replaced the sceptre in
the hand of the angel, not merely as the emblem of purity, but as the

and grace ; but when an archangel visited Mary, he was struck with her superior dignity
and pre-eminence, and, approaching, saluted her with admiration and respect. Though
accustomed to the lustre of the highest heavenly spirits, yet he was dazzled and amazed
at the dignity and spiritual glory of her whom he came to salute Mother of God, while
the attention of the whole heavenly court was with rapture fixed upon her.'

ST. GABRIEL. ]f5

symbol of the Virgin from the verse in the Canticles usually applied
to her: ^ I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley.' A lily
is often placed in a vase near the Virgin, or in the foreground of the
picture : of all the attributes placed in the hand of the angel, the lily
is the most usual and the most expressive.

The painters of Siena, who often displayed a new and original senti-
ment in the treatment of a subject, have represented the Angel Gabriel
as the announcer of ^ peace on earth; ' he kneels before the Virgin,
crowned with olive, and bearing a branch of olive in his hand, as in
a picture by Taddeo Bartoli. There is also a beautiful St. Gabriel
by Martin Schoen, standing, and crowned with olive. So Dante —

L' angel clie venne in terra col decreto
Delia molt' auni lagrimata pace.

Another passage in Dante which the painters seem to have had before
them shows us the Madonna as queen, and the angel as adoring: —

* Qual e quel angel che con tanto giuoco
Guarda negli occhi la nostra regina
Innamorato si che par di f uoco ? '
Ed egli a me, — 'Baldezza e leggiadria
Quanta esser puote in angelo ed in alma
Tutta e in lui, e si volem che sia ! '

It is in seeking this haldezza e leggiadria in a mistaken sense that
the later painters have forgotten all the spiritual dignity of the Angel
Messenger.

Where the angel bears a lighted taper, which the Virgin extends
her hand to take from him ; or, kneeling, bears in his hand a palm-
branch, surmounted by seven or twelve stars (44), the subject repre-
sented is not the announcement of the birth of the Saviour, but the
death of the Virgin, a part of her legendary history which is rarely
treated and easily mistaken ; then the announcing angel is not
Gabriel, but Michael.^

In old German Art, the angel in the Annunciation is habited in

^ The Annunciation and the Death of the Virgin, and the office and character of the
announcing angel in both subjects, are fully treated and illustrated in the * Legends of the
Madonna,' pp. 179, 334.

124

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

44

Angel announcing the death of the Virgin. (F. Filippo Lippi.)

priestly garments richly embroidered (45). The scene is often the bed-
room of the Virgin ; and while the announcing angel enters and kneels
at the threshold of the door, the Holy Ghost enters at the window. I
have seen examples in which Gabriel, entering at a door behind the
Virgin, unfolds his official ^ Ave Maria.' He has no lily, or sceptre,
and she is apparently conscious of his presence without seeing him.-^
But in the representations of the sixteenth century we find neither
the solemnity of the early Italian nor the naivete' of the early German
school ; and this divine subject becomes more and more materialised
and familiarised, until, losing its spiritual character, it strikes us as
shockingly prosaic. One cannot say that the angel is invariably
deficient in dignity, or the Virgin in grace.. In the Venetian school
and the Bologna school we find occasionally very beautiful Annuncia-
tions ; but in general the half-draped fluttering angels and the girlish-
looking Virgins are nothing less than oifensive ; and in the attempt

^ As in a very curious print by *Le Graveur de 1466 ;' and there are other instances.

ST. GABRIEL.

125

45

The Archangel Gabriel. (Van Eyck.)

to vary the sentiment the naturalisti have here run the risk of being
much too natural.

In the Cathedral at Orvieto, the Annunciation is represented in
front of the choir by two colossal statues by Francesco Mochi : to
the right is the Angel Gabriel, poised on a marble cloud, in an atti-
tude so fantastic that he looks as if he were going to dance ; on the
other side stands the Virgin, conceived in a spirit how different ! —
yet not less mistaken ; she has started from her throne ; with one
hand she grasps it, with the other she seems to guard her person
against the intruder : majesty at once, and fear, a look of insulted
dignity, are in the air and attitude, — ^ par eke minaeei e tema net
tempo istesso '—but I thought of Mrs Siddons while I looked, not of
the Virgin Mary.

This fault of sentiment I saw reversed, but equally in the extreme,

158 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

in another example — a beautiful miniature.^ The Virgin, seated on
the side of her bed, sinks back alarmed, almost fainting ; the angel
in a robe of crimson, with a white tunic, stands before her, half
turning away and grasping his sceptre in his hand, with a proud
commanding air, like a magnificent surly god — a Jupiter who had
received a repulse.

I pass over other instances conceived in a taste even more blameable
— Gabriels like smirking, winged lord chamberlains ; and Virgins,
half prim, half voluptuous — the sanctity and high solemnity of the
event utterly lost. Let this sufiice for the present ; I may now leave
the reader to his own feeling and discrimination.

St. Raphael.

Lat. Sanctus Raphael. Ital. San Eaffaello. Fr. Saint Raphael. Ger. Der Heilige Rafael.

' I am Raphael, one of the Seven Holy Angels which present the prayers of the Saints,
and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One.' — ToUt xii. 15.

I HAVE already alluded to the established belief, that every individual
man, nay, every created being, hath a guardian angel deputed to
watch over him : — Woe unto us, if, by our negligence or our self-will,
we offend him on whose vigilance we depend for help and salvation I
But the prince of guardian spirits, the guardian angel of all humanity,
is Raphael ; and in this character, according to the early Christians,
he appeared to the shepherds by night ' with good tidings of great joy,
which shall be for all people.' It is, however, from the beautiful
Hebrew romance of Tobit that his attributes are gathered ; he is the
protector of the young and innocent, and he watches over the pilgrim
and the wayfarer. The character imputed to him in the Jewish tra-
ditions has been retained and amplified by Milton ; Raphael is the
angel sent by God to warn Adam : —

The affable archangel

Raphael ; the sociable spirit that deigned

To travel with Tobias, and secured

His marriage with the seven times wedded maid.

1 Chants Royaux. Paris Bibl. Nat. MS. No. 6989.

ST. RAPHAEL

1«

And the ciharacter of the angel is preserved throughout; his sym-
pathy with the human race, his benignity, his eloquence, his mild
and social converse. So when Adam blesses him : —

. . . . Since to part,
Go, heavenly guest, ethereal messenger,
Sent from whose sovereign goodness I adore !
Gentle to me and affable hath been
Thy condescension, and shall be honoured ever
With grateful memory. Thou to mankind
Be good and friendly still, and oft return !

This character of benignity is stamped on all the best represen-
tations of Kaphael, which, however, are not common : they occur
principally in the chapels dedicated to the holy guardian angels ; but
there are also churches and chapels dedicated to him singly.

The devotional figures of Raphael exhibit him in the dress of a
pilgrim or traveller, ' his habit fit for speed succinct,' sandals on his
feet, his hair bound with a fillet or diadem, the staff in his hand, and
sometimes a bottle of water or a wallet (panetiere) slung to his belt.
In this figure by Murillo (46), from one of the most beautiful pictures
in the Leuchtenberg Gallery, Raphael is the guardian and guide of
the votary who appears below — a bishop who probably bore the same
name.^

Sometimes, as guardian spirit, he has a sword : the most beautiful
example I could cite of this treatment is the figure in the Breviary of
Anne of Bretagne (a.d. 1500) ; he wears a pale-green tunic bordered
with gold, and wings of a deep rose-colour ; he has a casket or wallet
slung over his shoulder by a golden belt ; in one hand he holds a
sword, and the other is raised with a warning gesture ; his counten-
ance, beautiful and benign as possible, yet says, * Take heed.' More
commonly, however, he carries a small casket, box, or vase, supposed to
contain the ' fishy charm ' against the evil spirits. (Tobit vi. 6, 7.)

Raphael, in his character of guardian angel, is generally represented
as leading the youthful Tobias. When, in order to mark the dif-
ference between the celestial and the mortal being, Tobit is figured
so small as to look like a child, and when the angel wears his spirit-
wings, and is not disguised, the whole subject becomes idealised ; it

^ Mr Stirling entitles this picture, * An Angel appearing to a Bishop at his prayers.'

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

St. Raphael, (Murillo. Leuchtenberg Gallery )

is no longer an historical action, but a devotional allegory ; and
Tobias with his fish represents the Christian, the believer, guarded
and guided through his life-pilgrimage by the angelic monitor and
minister of divine mercy.

There is a small side chapel in the church of Saint Euphemia, at
Verona, dedicated to St. Baphael. The walls are painted with fres-
coes from the story of Tobit ; and over the altar is that masterpiece
of Carotto, representing the three archangels as three graceful spirit-
like figures without wings. The altar being dedicated to Raphael,
he is here the principal figure ; he alone has the glory encircling his

ST. RAPHAEL.

119

head, and takes precedence of the others ; he stands in the centre
leading Tobias, and looking down on him with an air of such saintly
and benign protection, that one feels inclined to say or sing, in the
words of the litany, ' Sancte Raphael, adolescentium pudicitae defensor,
ora pro nobis ! ' Even more divine is the St. Michael who stands on
the right, with one hand gathering up the folds of his crimson robe,
the other leaning on his great two-handed sword ; but such a head,
such a countenance looking out upon us — so earnest, powerful, and
serious ! — we recognise the Lord of Souls, the Angel of Judgment.
To the left of Raphael stands Gabriel, the Angel of Redemption ; he
holds the lily, and looks up to heaven adoring! this is the least
expressive of the three heads, but still beautiful ; and, on the whole,
the picture left a stronger impression on my mind than any I had
seen at Venice, the glorious Assumption excepted. The colouring
in its glowing depth is like that of Giorgione. Yasari tells us, that
this picture, painted when Carotto was young (about a.d. 1495), was
criticised because the limbs of the angels were too slender ; to which
Carotto, famous for his repartees, replied, ^ Then they will fly the
better ! ' The drawing, however, it must be conceded, is not the
best part of the picture.

The earliest picture of Titian which remains to us is a St. Raphael
leading Tobias ; ^ beautiful, but not equal, certainly, to that of Carotto.
Raphael, as we might naturally suppose, painted his guardian angel
and patron saint con amove : ^ we have by him two St. Raphaels : the
first, a little figure, executed when he was a boy in the studio of his
master Perugino, is now on one side of an altar-piece in the Certosa
at Pavia. Later in life, and in one of his finest works, he has introduced
his patron saint with infinite beauty of feeling : in the Madonna della
Pesce, ^ the Virgin sits upon her throne, with the Infant Christ in her
arms ; the angel Raphael presents Tobias, who is not here a youth but
a child ; while the Infant Christ turns away from the wise bearded old
doctor, who is intently studying his great book, to welcome the angel
and his charge. The head of the angel, looking up in the face of the
Madonna, is in truth sublime : it would be impossible to determine
whether it belongs to a masculine or a feminine being ; but none could

' In the church of S. Marziale, Venice. ' Passavant's Rafael, vol. ii. pp. 6, 1 50.
^ Madrid Gallery.
VOL. I. R

I

130 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

doubt that it is a divine being, filled with fervent, enthusiastic, adoring
love. The fish in the hand of Tobias has given its name to the picture ;
and I may as well observe that in the devotional pictures, where the
fish is merely an attribute, expressing Christian baptism, it is usually
very small ; in the story it is a sort of monster, which sprang out
of the river and would have devoured him.

All the subjects in which the Archangel Kaphael is an actor belong
to the history of Tobit. The scenes of this beautiful scriptural legend
— I must call it so — have been popular subjects of Art, particularly
in the later schools, and have been admirably treated by some of the
best Dutch and Flemish painters ; the combination of the picturesque
and poetical with the homely and domestic recommended it particularly
to Eembrandt and his school. Tobias dragging the fish ashore, while
the angel stands by, is a fine picturesque landscape subject which has
been often repeated. The spirited little sketch by Salvator, ^ in which
the figure of the guardian angel is admirable for power and animated
grace ; the twilight efiect by Eembrandt;^ another by Domenichino ;
three by Claude ; may be cited as examples.

47 Archangel. (Rembrandt.)

In such pictures, as it has been rightly observed, the angel ought

^ Louvre, No. 358, 2 jjj ^^j. National Gallery.

ST. RAPHAEL. |3i

not to have wings : lie is disguised as the friendly traveller. The
dog, which ought to be omitted in the devotional pictures, is here a
part of the story, and figures with great propriety.

Rembrandt painted the parting of Tobias and his parents four
times; Tobias led by the angel, four times; Tobias healing his father,
once ; the departure of the angel, twice. Of this last subject, the
picture in the Louvre may be pronounced one of his finest ; — mira-
culous for true and spirited expression, and for the action of the
soaring angel, who parts the clouds and strikes through the air like
a strong swimmer through the waves of the sea (47).

The story of Tobit, as a series of subjects, has been verj^ frequently
represented, always in the genre and picturesque style of the later
schools. I shall have to return to it hereafter ; here I have merely
alluded to the devotional treatment, in order to direct attention to
the proper character of the Archangel Ra[)hael.

And thus we have shown

. . . . how Holy Church
Doth represent with human countenance
Gabriel and Michael, and him who made
Tobias whole. — Daxte, Par. c. iv.

ADDITIONAL NOTES ON ANGELS.

1. In a picture by Gentile da Fabriano {Berlin Gallery, 1130), the Virgin and Child
are enthroned, and on each side of the throne is a tree, on the branches of which are little
red Serayjhira winged and perched like birds, singing and making music. I remember also
a little Dutch print of a Riposo (v. * Legends of the Madonna,' p. 256), in which five little
angels are perched on the trees above, singing and playing for the solace of the divine
Infant. Thus we have Dante's idea of the Uccelli di Dio, reproduced in a more familiar
form.

2. In the Convent of Sant-Angelo at Bologna, Camillo Procaccino painted the * Acts of
the Holy Angels' in the following order: — 1. The Fall of the Dragon. 2. The Angela
drive Adam and Eve from Paradise. 3. The three Angels visit Abraham. 4. The Angel
stays the arm of Abraham. 5. The Angel wrestles with Jacob. 6. The Angels visit
Jacob in a Dream. 7. Tlie Angel delivers the three Children in the burning fiery Furnace.
8. The Angel slays the Host of Sennacherib. 9. The Angel protects Tobit. 10. The
Punishment of Heliodorus. 11. The Annunciation to Mary. It will be remarked thai
all these subjects are strictly scriptural.

182 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

'Matthew wrote for tbe Hebrews ; Mark, for the Italians; Luke, for tlie Greeks ; for all,
the great herald John.' — Gregory Nazianzen.

Since on the Four Evangelists, as the witnesses and interpreters of a
revealed religion, the whole Christian Church' may be said to rest as
upon four majestic pillars, we cannot be surprised that representations
of them should abound, and that their effigies should have been intro-
duced into Christian places of worship from very early times. Gene-
rally, we find them represented together, grouped, or in a series,
sometimes in their collective character, as the Four Witnesses ; some-
times in their individual character, each as an inspired teacher, or
beneficent patron. As no authentic resemblances of these sacred
personages have ever been known or even supposed to exist, such
representations have always been either symbolical or ideal. In the
symbol, the aim was to embody, under some emblematical image,
the spiritual mission ; in the ideal portrait, the artist, left to his own
conception, borrowed from Scripture some leading trait (when
Scripture afforded any authority for such), and adding, with what
success his skill could attain, all that his imagination could conceive,
as expressive of dignity and persuasive eloquence — the look ^com-
mercing with the skies,' the commanding form, the reverend face, the
ample draperies — he put the book or the pen into his hand, and thus
the writer and the teacher of the truth was placed before us.

The earliest type under which the Four Evangelists are figured is
an emblem of the simplest kind : four scrolls placed in the four angles
of a Greek cross, or four books (the Gospels), represented allegorically
those who wrote or promulgated them. The second type chosen was
more poetical — the four rivers which had their source in Paradise :
representations of this kind, in which the Saviour, figured as a lamb
holding the cross, or in His human form, with a lamb near Him, stands
on an eminence, from which gush four rivers or fountains, are to be
met with in the catacombs, on ancient sarcophagi preserved among

THE FOUR EVANGELISTS. 133

the Christian relics in the Vatican, and in several old churches con-
structed between the second and the fifth century.

At what period the four mysterious creatures in the vision of
Ezekiel (ch. i. 5) were first adopted as significant symbols of the Four
Evangelists, does not seem clear. The Jewish doctors interpreted
them as figuring the four Archangels, — Michael, Raphael, Gabriel,
Uriel ; and afterwards applied them as emblems of the Four Great
Prophets, — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. By the early
Oriental Christians, who typified the whole of the Old Testament, the
transferof the emblem to the Four Evangelists seems obvious and easy ;
we find it alluded to as early as the second century. The four ^ Beasts '
of corresponding form in the Revelation (chap. iv. 7), which stood
round the throne of the Lamb, were likewise thus interpreted ; but
it was not till the fifth century that we find these symbols assuming a
visible form, and introduced into works of Art. In the seventh cen-
tury they had become almost universal, as distinctive attributes.

The general application of the Four Creatures to the Four Evan-
gelists is of much earlier date than the separate and individual
application of each symbol, which has varied at difi'erent times ;

St. Matthew. (Mosaic, fiftli centuiy.)

that propounded by St. Jerome, in his commentary on Ezekiel, has
since his time prevailed universally. Thus, then, 1. To St. Matthew
was given the Cherub, or human semblance, because he begins
his Gospel with the human generation of Christ ; or, according to

I others, because in his Gospel the human nature of the Saviour is
more insisted on than the divine. In the most ancient mosaics,
the type is human, not angelic, for the head is that of a man with a
beard. 2. St. Mark has the Lion, because he has set forth the royal
dignity of Christ; or, according to others, because he begins with
I

134 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

the mission of the Baptist — ' the voice of one crying in the wilder-
ness''— which is figured by the lion; or, according to a third
interpretation, the lion was allotted to St. Mark, because there
was, in the Middle Ages, a popular belief that the young of the lion
was born dead, and after three days was awakened to vitality by
the breath of its sire ; some authors, however, represent the lion
as vivifying his young not by his breath, but by his roar. In either
case the application is the same ; the revival of the young lion was
considered as symbolical of the resurrection, and Mark was com-
monly called the * Historian of the Eesurrection.' Another commen-
tator observes that Mark begins his Gospel with ^ roaring ' — ^ the voice
of one crying in the wilderness ; ' and ends it fearfully with a curse
— ' He that believeth not shall be damned ; ' and that, therefore, his
appropriate attribute is the most terrible of beasts, the lion.^ 3. Luke
has the Ox, because he has dwelt on the priesthood of Christ, the ox
being the emblem of sacrifice. 4. John has the Eagle, which is the
symbol of the highest inspiration, because he soared upwards to the
contemplation of the divine nature of the Saviour.

But the order in which, in theological Art, these symbols are placed,
is not the same as the order of the Gospels according to the canon.
Rupertus considers the Four Beasts as typical of the Incarnation, the
Passion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension ; an idea previously
dwelt upon by Durandus, who adds, that the man and the lion are
placed on the right, because the incarnation and the resurrection are
the joy of the whole earth ; whilst the ox is on the left, because Christ's
sacrifice was a trouble to the apostles ; and the eagle is above the ox,
as suggestive of our Lord's upward flight into heaven : according to
others, the proper order in the ascending scale is thus — at the lowest
point on the left, the ox ; to the right, the lion ; above the ox, the
eagle; and above all, the angel. So in Raphael's Vision of Ezekiel,
the angel gazes into the face of the Holy One, the others form His
throne.

I have dwelt on these fanciful interpretations and disquisitions,
because the symbols of the Evangelists meet us at every turn ; in the
mosaics of the old Italian churches, in the decorative sculpture of our
old cathedrals, in the Gothic stained glass, in the ancient pictures

^ Rupertus, Commentar. in Apocal. c. 4. Mark xvi. 16.

THE FOUR EVANGELISTS.

135

and miniatures, on the carved and chased covers of old books ; every-
where, in short, where enters the idea of their divine mission — and
where is it not ? The profound thought, as well as the vivid imagi-
nation, exercised in some of these early works of Art, is beginnino-
to be appreciated ; and we should lose the half of what is poetical
and significant and venerable in these apparently arbitrary and
fanciful symbols, if we merely seized the geneml intention, and not
the relative and appropriate meaning of each.

I will only add (for I have restricted myself to the consideration of
the mysteries of faith only so far as they are carried into the forms
of Art) that these symbols of the Four Evangelists were in their
combination held to be symbolical of the Redeemer, in the fourfold
character then universally assigned to Him, as man, as king, as
high priest, and as God ; according to this Latin verse : —

Quatuor hsec Dominum signant animalia Christum :
Est Homo nascendo, vitulusc^xxQ sacer moriendo,
Et Leo surgendo, coeloa aquilaqyxe petendo ;
Nee minus hos scribas animalia et ipsa figurant.

This would again alter the received order of the symbols, and place
the angelic or human semblance lower than the rest : but I have never
seen them so placed, at least I can recollect no instance.

A Greek mosaic, existing in the Convent of Yatopedi, on Mount
Athos, exhibits an attempt to reduce to form the wild and sublime
imagery of the prophet Ezekiel : the Evangelists, or rather the Gos-
pels, are represented as the tetramorph, or four-faced creature, with
wings full of eyes, and borne on wheels of living flame (49.)

The Tetramorph, i.e., the union of the four attributes of the Evan-
gelists, in one figure, is in Greek Art always angelic or winged — a
mysterious thing. The Tetramorph in Western Art has in some
instances become monstrous, instead of mystic and poetical. In a
miniature of the Hortus Deliciarum, we find the new Law, or Chris-
tianity, represented as a woman crowned and seated on an animal
which, with the body of a horse, has the four heads of the mystic
creatures ; and of the four feet, one is human ; one hoofed, for the ox;
one clawed like an eagle's ; and one like a lion's : underneath is
inscribed Animal Ecclesice. In some other examples, the Church, or

136

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

the new Law, is seated in a triumphal car,
drawn by the eagle, the lion, and the ox,
while the angel holds the reins and drives
as charioteer.

The early images of the Evangelical
symbol are uniformly represented with
wings, for the same reason that wings
were given to the angels, — they were
angels, i.e.^ bringers of good tidings: for
instance, in the earliest example to which
I can refer, a rude fragment of a bas-
relief in terra-cotta, found in the cata-
combs, which represents a lamb with a
glory holding a cross; on the right, au
angel in a sacerdotal garment (St. Mat-
thew), on the left the winged ox (St.
Luke), each holding a book.

In the most ancient Christian churches
we find these symbols perpetually recur-
ring, generally in or over the recess at the
east end (the apsis, or tribune), where
stands the altar. And as the image of
Christ, as the Redeemer, either under
the semblance of the lamb, or in His
human likeness, as a grand, calm, solemn figure enthroned, and in the
act of benediction, forms invariably the principal object; almost as

W Tetramorph.

<^

60

St. Luke. (Mosaic, a.d. 750.)

51 St Luke. (Mosaic, fifth century.)

THE FOUR EVANGELISTS.

137

invariably the Evangelists are either at the four corners, or ranged in
a line above or below, or they are over the arch in front of the tribune.
Sometimes they are the heads only of the mystic creatures on an azure

62

St. John. (Mosaic, eleventh century.)

ground, studded with stars, floating as in a firmament, thus (50); or
the half figure ends in a leafy scroll, like the genii in an arabesque,
as thus (51); or the creature is given at full length and entire, with
four wings, holding the book, and looking much like a figure in
heraldiy (52, 53).

53

St. Mark. (Mosaic.)

The next step was the combination of the emblem with the humon
^form, i.e., the head of the lion, ox, or eagle, set upon the figure of a
man. Here is a figure of St. John standing with the head of an eagle,
holdingthe Gospel(54). There is another rudely engraved in Miinter's
work, with the eagle's head, wings upon the shoulders, and a scroll.
II remember another of St. John seated, writing, with the head and
clawed feet of an eagle, and the body and hands of a man. Such figures
as a series I have seen in ornaments, and frequently in illuminated
VOL. I. ^

138

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

MSS., but seldom in churclies, and never of a large size. A very
gA M K^ P" ^ striking and comparatively modern example of
^^"^"^^ this peculiar treatment occurs in a bas-relief
on the door of the College of St. Stephen and
St. Lawrence, at Castiglione, in which the Four
Evangelists are represented as half-length
human figures, amply draped and holding the
Gospels, each with the emblematic head and
large outspread wings (55). The bronze bas-
reliefs of the Evangelists on each side of the
choir of St. Antonio, at Padua, are similar in
form, and very fine, both in conception and
workmanship.

This series of full-length figures is from the
first compartment of the Life of Christ by
Angelico da Fiesole.^ In the original the
figures stand round a mystic circle, alternately
with the prophets (56). We must remember,
that however monstrous and grotesque such
figures may appear to the eye, they are not
more unnatural than the angelic representations
with which we are so familiar that we see in
-not considering that men with the wings of birds
are as merely emblematical and impossible as men with animal heads.
It is interesting, and leads the mind to many speculations, to remark

that the Babylonish captivity must have
familiarised the Israelites with the com-
bination of the human and animal attri-
butes in the same figure. The gigantic
bas-reliefs from Nineveh show us winged
bulls with human heads, and the human
form with the eagle's head and wings.
This figure, for example (57), is not unlike
some early figures of St. John, if we sub-
stitute the book and the pen for the basket and the pine-cone.

In a few later examples the only symbolical attribute retained is a

1 Fl. Acad.

St. Joha.

them beauty only-

St. Mark

THE FOUR EVANGELISTS.

130

«--^^^L.

pair of wings. The next figure (58) is from a curious set of Evan-
gelists, of a minute size, and exquisitely engraved by Hans Beliam;

67

From Nineveiu

140

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

58

they are habited in the old German fashion ; each
has his book, his emblem, and in addition the
expressive wings.

These animal symbols, whether alone or in coin-
^ bination with the human forms, were perfectly
intelligible to the people, sanctified in their eyes
by tradition, by custom, and by the most solemn
associations. All direct imitation of nature was,
by the best painters, carefully avoided. In this
respect how fine is Raphael's Vision of Ezekiel I
how sublime and how true in feeling and con-
ception ! where the Messiah comes floating along,
upborne by the Four Creatures — mysterious, spiritual, wonderful
beings, animals in form, but in all else unearthh^, and the winged ox
not less divine than the winged angel !^ Whereas in the later times,
when the artist piqued himself upon the imitation of nature, the
mystic and venerable significance was wholly lost. As a striking
instance of this mistaken style of treatment, we may turn to the
famous group of the Four Evangelists by Rubens,^ grand, colossal,
standing or rather moving figures_, each with his emblem, if emblems
they can be called which are almost as full of reality as nature itself:
— the ox so like life, we expect him to bellow at us ; the magnificent
lion flourishing his tail, and looking at St. Mark as if about to roar
at him ! — and herein lies the mistake of the great painter, that, for
the religious and mysterious emblem, he has substituted the creatures
themselves : this being one of the instances, not unfrequent in Art,
in which the literal truth becomes a manifest falsehood.

In ecclesiastical decoration the Four Evangelists are sometimes
grouped significantly with the Four Greater Prophets ; thus represent-
ing the connection between the new and the old Law. I met with a
curious instance in the Cathedral of Chartres. The five great win-
dows over the south door may be said to contain Dj succinct system of

1 There is a small and beautiful picture by Giulio Romano in the Belvedere at Vienna,
representing the emblems of the Four Evangelists grouped in a picturesque manner, which
was probably suggested by Raphael's celebrated picture, which is in the Pitti palace at
Florence.

^ Grosvenor Gallery.

THE FOUR EVANGELISTS. 1^

theology, according to the belief of the thirteenth centur}^ : here the
Virgin, i.e,^ the Church or Keligion, occupies the central window; on
one side is Jeremiah, carrying on his shoulders St. Luke, and Isaiah
carrying St. Matthew ; on the other side Ezekiel bears St. John, and
Daniel St. Mark ; thus representing the New Testament resting on
the Old.

In ecclesiastical decoration, and particularly in the stained glass,
they are often found in combination with the Four Doctors, the
Evangelists being considered as witnesses, the Doctors as interpreters,
of the truth ; or as a series with the Four Greater Prophets, the Four
Sibyls, and the Four Doctors of the Church, the Evangelists taking
the third place.

If, as late as the sixteenth century, we find the Evangelists still
expressed by the mystic emblems (as in the fine bronzes in the choir
of Sant' Antonio at Padua), as early as the sixth we have in the Greek
MSS. and mosaics the Evangelists as venerable men, and promul-
gators of a revelation ; as in San Yitale at Ravenna (a.d. 547) : on
each side of the choir, nearest the altar, we find the prophets Isaiah
and Jeremiah; then follow the Evangelists, two on each side, all alike,
all classically draped in white tunics, each holding an open book, on
which is inscribed ' Secundum Marcum,' ^ Secundum Johannem,' &c. ;
and above each the animal symbol or attribute, large, full length,
and grandly designed. In modern ecclesiastical decoration, the
usual and appropriate situation of the Four Evangelists is imme-
diately under the dome, nearest to the Saviour after the angels, or
after the prophets, where either are introduced. I will mention here
a few examples celebrated in the history of Art ; premising that
among the works of Leonardo, of Michael Angelo, and Raphael, we
find no representations of the Four Evangelists ; which is singular,
considering that such figures entered necessarily into every scheme
of theological decorative Art.

By Cimabue (a.d. 1270), larger than life, on the vault of the choir
in San Francesco d'Assisi.

By Giotto (a.d. 1320), in the choir of Sant' Apollinare, at Ravenna;
seated, and each accompanied by one of the doctors of the Church.

By Angelico (a.d. 1390), round the dome of the chapel of San
Niccolo, in the Vatican ; all seated, each with his emblem.

142 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

By Masaccio (a.d. 1420), round the dome of the chapel of the
Passion in San Clemente, at Rome; admirable for simple grandeur.

By Perugino (a.d. 1490), on the dome of the chapel del Cambio,
at Perugia ; the heads admirable.

By Correggio (a.d. 1520), immediately under the cupola of San
Giovanni, in four lunettes, magnificent figures : and again in the
Cathedral of Parma, each seated in glory, with one of the doctors of
the Church.

By Domenichino, two sets (a. d. 1620). Those in the Church of
St. Andrea della Yalle, at Rome, are considered his finest works, and
celebrated in the history of Art: they are grand figures. Tiie emble-
matical animals are here combined with the personages in a manner
the most studied and picturesque; and the angels which sport around
them, playing with the mane of St. Mark's lion, or the pallet and
pencils of St. Luke, are like beautiful ' Amoretti,' — but we hardly
think of angels. The series at Grotta-Ferrata is inferior.

The Four Evangelists by Valentin (a.d. 1632), in the Louvre, had
once great celebrity, and have been often engraved ; they appear to
me signal examples of all that should be avoided in character and
sentiment. St. Matthew, for example, is an old beggar ; the model
for the attendant angel is a little French gamin^ ^ k qui Valentin a
commando de sortir un bras de la mauche de sa chemise, que de
I'autre main il soutient gauchement.'

Le Sueur (a.d. 1655), has represented the Four Evangelists seated
at a table writing ; the Holy Ghost descends upon them in the form
of a dove.

Towards the end of the seventeenth century, we find sets of the
Evangelists in which the emblems are altogether omitted, and the
personages distinguished by their situation, or by their names in-
scribed under or over them ; but we miss those antique scriptural
attributes which placed them before us as beings foreshadowed in the
prophecies uttered of old ; they have become mere men.

This must suffice for the Evangelists considered as a series and in
their collective character ; but it will be interesting to pause for a
moment, and take a rapid retrospective view of the progress, from
first to last, in the expression of an idea through form.

THE FOUR EVANGELISTS. 148

First, we have the mere /act; the four scrolls, or the four books.

Next, the idea; the four rivers of salvation flowins: from on hio-h.
to fertilise the whole earth.

Thirdly, the prophetic Symbol ; the winged cherub of fourfold
aspect.

Next, the Christian Symbol; the fom* ^beasts' in the Apocalypse,
with or without the angel-wings.

Then the combination of the emblematical animal with the human
form.

Then the human personages, each of venerable or inspired aspect,
as becomes the teacher and witness ; and each attended by the scrip-
tural emblem — no longer an emblem, but an attribute — marking his
individual vocation and character.

And, lastly, the emblem and attribute both discarded, we have the
human being only, holding his Gospel, i.e.^ his version of the doctrine
of Christ.

St. Matthew.

Lat. S. Mattheus. Ital. San Matteo. Fr. Saint Matthieu. Oer. St. Matthaus. (Sept. 21.)

St. Matthew among the Apostles takes the seventh or eighth place,
but as an Evangelist he always stands first, because his Gospel was
the earliest written. Very little is certainly known concerning him,
his name occurring but once in his own Gospel, and in the other
Gospels only incidentally with reference to two events.

He was a Hebrew by birth ; by profession a publican, or tax-
gatherer, in the service of the Romans — an office very lucrative, but
particularly odious in the sight of his countrymen. His original name
was Levi. It is recorded in few words, that as he sat at the receipt of
custom by the lake of Gennesareth, Jesus in passing by saw him, and
said unto him, ' Follow me,' and he left all and followed Him ; and
further, that he made a feast in his house, at which many publicans
and sinners sat down with the Lord and His disciples, to the great
astonishment and scandal of the Jews. So far the sacred record : the
traditional and legendary history of St. Matthew is equally scanty.
It is related in the Perfetto Legendario that, after the dispersion of

14^

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

the apostles, he travelled into Eg-ypt and Ethiopia, preaching the
Gospel ; and having arrived in the capital of Ethiopia, he lodged in the
house of the eunuch who had been baptized by Philip, and who enter-
tained him with great honour. There were two terrible magicians
at that time in Ethiopia, who by their diabolical spells and incantations
kept all the people in subjection, afflicting them at the same time
with strange and terrible diseases ; but St. Matthew overcame them,
and having baptized the people, thej were delivered for ever from the
malignant influence of these enchanters. And further, it is related
that St. Matthew raised the son of the King of Egypt from the dead,
and healed his daughter of the leprosy. The princess, whose name
was Iphigenia, he placed at the head of a community of virgins
dedicated to the service of God ; and a certain wicked heathen king,
having threatened to tear her from her asylum, was struck by leprosy,
and his palace destroyed by fire. St. Matthew remained twenty- three
years in Egypt and Ethiopia, and it is said that he perished in the
ninetieth year of our era, under Domitian;
but the manner of his death is uncertain;
according to the Greek legend, he died in
peace, but according to the tradition of the
Western Church, he suffered martyrdom either
by the sword or the spear.

Few churches are dedicated to St. Matthew.
I am not aware that he is the patron saint of
any country, trade, or profession, unless it be
that of tax-gatherer or exciseman; and this
is perhaps the reason that, except where he
figures as one of the series of evangelists or
apostles, he is so seldom represented alone,
or in devotional pictures. In a large altar-
piece, the ' San Matteo ' of Annibal Caracci,^
he is standing before the throne of the
Madonna, as a pendant to John the Baptist,
and gives his name to the picture ; but such
examples are uncommon. When he is por-
trayed as an evangelist, he holds a book or a
pen ; and the angel, his proper attribute and

1 Dresden Gallery. No. 828.

69 St. Matthew.

ST. MATTHEW, 145

attendant, stands by, pointing up to heaven, or dictating ; or he holds
the inkhorn, or he supports the book. In his character of apostle,
St. Matthew frequently holds a purse or money-bag, as significant of
his former vocation (56).

Neither are pictures from his life of frequent occurrence. Tlie
principal incident, entitled the ^ Calling of Matthew,' has been occa-
sionally, but not often, treated in painting. The motif is simple and
not easily mistaken. St. Matthew is seated at a kind of desk with
money before him ; various personages bring tribute ; on one side is
seen Christ, with one or two of His disciples, generally Peter and
Andrew; St. Matthew is either looking towards Him with an expres-
sion of awe-struck attention, or he is rising from his seat, as in the
act to follow; the mere accessories and number of the personages vary
with the period of the composition and the taste of the painter.

1. The earliest instance I can cite, probably the oldest which has
come down to us, is in a Greek MS. of the ninth century.^ St.
Matthew sits with both hands on a heap of gold, lying on a table
before him : he looks round at Christ, who is a little behind.

2. St. Matthew is about to rise to follow the Saviour ; by Matteo
di Ser Cambio of Perugia, who has represented his patron saint in
a small composition.^

3. In the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, there is a very
curious and interesting picture of this subject, by Mabuse, which once
belonged to King Charles I., and is quaintly described in the old cata-
logue of his pictures as * a very old, defaced, curious altar-piece, upon
a thick board, where Christ is calling St. Matthew out of the custom-
house ; which picture was got in Queen Elizabeth's days, in the taking
of Calus Mains (Cadiz), in Spain. Painted upon a board in a gilded
arched frame, like an altar-piece; containing ten big figures, less than
half so big as the life, and some twenty-two afar off less figures. Given
to the King.' In the foreground there is a rich architectural porch,
from which St. Matthew is issuing in haste, leaving his money-
bags behind ; and in the background is seen the Lake of Gennesareth
and shipping. This picture was among the booty taken in Essex's
expedition against Cadiz in 1596, and probably stolen from some
church.

1 Paris, Bib. du Roi, No. 510. * a.d. 1377. Eng. in Rossini, pi. 24.

VOL. I. T

l4tf SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

4. In the Yienna Gallery I found three pictures of the same subject-,
all by Hemessen, very quaint and curious.

5. At Dresden the same subject in the Venetian style by Por-
denone.

6. By Ludovico Caracci, a grand scenic picture, painted for the
Mendicanti in Bologna.

7. In a chapel of the church of San Luigi de' Francesi, at Eome,
there are three pictures by Caravaggio from the life of St. Matthew.
Over the altar is the saint writing his Grospel , he looks up at the
attendant angel, who is behind with outspread wings, and in the
act of dictating. On the left is the calling of St. Matthew : the saint,
who has been counting money, rises with one hand on his breast, and
turns to follow the Saviour ; an old man, with spectacles on his nose,
examines with curiosity the personage whose summons has had such a
miraculous effect ; a boy is slyly appropriating the money which the
apostle has thrown down. The third picture is the martyrdom of the
saint, who, in the sacerdotal habit, lies extended on a block, while a
half-naked executioner raises the sword, and several spectators shrink
back with horror. There is nothing dignified or poetical in these re-
presentations ; and though painted with all that power of effect which
characterised Caravaggio, then at the height of his reputation, they
have also his coarseness of feeling and execution : the priests were
(not without reason) dissatisfied ; and it required all the influence
of his patron. Cardinal Giustiniani, to induce them to retain the
pictures in the church where we now see them ; — here we sympathise
with the priests, rather than with the artist and his patron.

The Feast which St. Matthew made for our Saviour and His disciples
is the subject of one of Paul Yeronese's gorgeous banquet scenes ;
that which he painted for the refectory of the Convent of St. John
and St. Paul at Yenice. It is now in the Academy, filling up the
end wall of one of the great rooms from side to side, and seeming
to let in light and air through the lofty marble porticoes, which give
us such a magnificent idea of the splendour which surrounded Levi
before he left all to follow Jesus.

In all the representations of the death of St. Matthew, except
those of the Greek or Byzantine school, he dies by the sword. The
Greek artists uniformly exhibit him as dying in peace, while an

ST. MARK.

147

angel swings the censer beside liis bed : as on the ancient doors of
San Paolo at Rome.

Pictures from the legendary life of St. Matthew are very rare. The
most remarkable are the frescoes in the chapel of San Matteo at
Ravenna, attributed to Giotto. They are so much ruined, that, of
the eight subjects represented, only three — his vocation, his preaching
and healing the sick in Ethiopia, and the baptism of the king and
queen — can be made out. In the Bedford missal at Paris I found
a miniature, representing St. Matthew ^ healing the son and daughter
of King Egyptus of the leprosy ; ' but, as a subject of Art, he is
not popular.

St. Mark.

Lat. S. Marcus. Ital. San Marco Evangelista. Fr. St. Marc. Ger. Der Heilige Marcus.

(April 25. A.D. 68.)

St. Mark the Evangelist was not one of the twelve Apostles : his con-
version apparently took place after the ascension. He was the com-
panion and assistant of Paul and Barnabas, with whom he preached
the Gospel among the Gentiles. Accordmg to the traditions received
in the Roma.n Church, he was converted by St. Peter, and became his
fiivourite disciple; attended him first to Aquileia, where they converted
and baptized the people on tlie shores of the Adriatic, and thence to
Rome. While there he wrote his Gospel for the use of the Roman
converts, — some say from the dictation of the apostle. He afterwards,
by command of St. Peter, went to preach the Gospel in Egypt; and
after preaching in Lybia and Thebais for twelve years, he founded the
church of Alexandria, subsequently one of the most celebrated of all
the early Christian churches. The ire of the heathen being stirred up
against him because of his miracles, they reviled him as a magician, and,
during the feast of their god Serapis, seized him while in the act of
worship, bound him, and dragged him along the streets and highways,
and over stony and rocky places, till he perished miserably ; at tlip
same time a dreadful tempest of hail and lightning fell upon his mur-
derers, by which they were dispersed and destroyed. The Christians
of Alexandria buried his mangled remains, and his sepulchre was
regarded with great reverence for several centuries. About 815 a.b.,

143 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

some Venetian merchants trading to Alexandria carried off the relics
(literally stole them, — ' convey the wise it call ! '), and they were de-
posited in the city of Venice, where the stately church of St. Mark
was built over them. Since that time, St. Mark has been honoured as
the patron saint of Venice, and his legendary history has supplied
the Venetian painters with many beautiful and picturesque subjects.

When St. Mark is represented as one of the Four Evangelists,
either singly or grouped with the others, he is almost invariably ac-
companied by the lion, winged or unwinged, but generally winged,
— which distinguishes him from St. Jerome, who is also accompanied
by the lion, but unwinged, as we shall see hereafter.

In devotional representations, St. Mark often wears the habit of
bishop, as first bishop of Alexandria. He is thus represented in the
colossal mosaic over the principal door of St. Mark's at Venice -^ in
the pontificals of a Greek bishop, no mitre, short grey hair and beard;
one hand raised in benediction, the other holding the Gospel.

Of the innumerable pictures in which St. Mark figures as patron of
Venice, I can afford to give a few examples only.

1. A. Busati. He is seated on a throne; an open book in one
hand, bearing inscribed the Venetian motto (^ la Leggcnda de'
Veneti') Pax tibi, Marce, Evangelista meus; the other hand
blessing: behind him a fig-tree, with leaves and no fruit; probably in
allusion to the text, ch. xi. 13, which is peculiar to St. Mark. On
his right stands St. Andrew bearing a cross ; on the left St.
Bernardino of Siena; behind him the apple-tree which 'brought
death into the world and all our woe.' This votive picture, fl-om
its mystical accessories and the introduction of St. Bernardino, was
probably painted for the Franciscans (J, Frari) of Venice : it is now
in the Academy there.

2. St. Mark on a lofty throne holds his Gospel in his hand ; at his
feet the four saints who are protectors against sickness and pestilence,
St. Sebastian, St. Eoch, St. Cosmo, and St. Damian : a splendid
picture, in Titian's early manner.^ 3. St. Mark plants the standard

^ Designed by Titian, and executed by F. Zuccati.

^ It is 8o like Giorgione in sentiment and colour that it has been attiibuted to him.
For this expre«»8ive votive group, see the frontispiece to vol. ii., and the legends of the four
l>atron saints aoove mentioned.

ST. MARK.

14»

of Venice, by Bonifazio. And 4. ' San Marco che assista all' coscri-
zione maritima ; ' (i.e., the enlisting of the mariners for the service of
the State) by Gr. del Moro, both curious instances of the manner in
which the Venetians mixed up their patron saint with all their
political and military transactions. 5. St. Mark presents the Doge
Leonardo Dona to the Virgin ; the most remarkable of a numerous
class of votive pictures common in the Venetian school, in which St.
Mark introduces either the Doge or some general or magnifico to the
Virgin.^

Among the devotional pictures of St. Mark, one of the most
famous is that of Fra Bartolomeo, in the Palazzo Pitti. He is
represented as a man in the prime of life, with bushy hair and a
short reddish beard, throned in a niche, and holding in one hand
the Gospel, in the other a pen ; the lion is omitted. The Frate
painted this picture for his own convent of San Marco at Florence.
It is much lauded and celebrated, but the attitude appeared to me
rather forced, and the features rather commonplace.

The legend which describes St. Mark as the disciple and aman-
uensis of St. Peter, has given occasion for those votive pictures in
which they are represented together. 1. In the treasury of St.
Mark's is preserved a golden reliquary of a square form, contain-
ing, it is said, a fragment of the original Gospel in the handwriting
of St. Mark ; the chased cover represents St. Peter on a throne, and
before him kneels the evangelist, writing from his dictation.^ 2. And
again, in an ancient Greek Evangelarium, St. Mark is seated,
writing ; St. Peter stands before him with his hand raised as dictat-
ing. 3. In a beautiful picture by Angelico da Fiesole,^ St. Peter is
in a pulpit preaching to the Romans ; and Mark, seated, is taking
down his words in a book. 4. St. Peter and St. Mark standing
together, the former holding a book, the latter a pen, with an ink-
horn suspended from his girdle, by Bellini; * and 5, a similar one by
Bonvicino — very beautiful.* Such pictures are extremely interesting,

^ Beneath the monument of Nicol5 Orsini, in the SS. Giovanni-e-Paolo at Venice. A very
remarkable and beautiful picture of this class is in the Berlin Gallery (No. 316). St. Mark,
enthroned and holding his Gospel open on his knees, is instructing three of the Frocuradori
diBan Marco, who kneel before hiui in their rich crimson dresses, and listen reverently.

2 Venice Ducal Palace. » Fl. Gal.

* Venice Acad. • Brera. MilaiU

150 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

showing the opinion generally entertained of the origin of St. Mark's
Gospel.

Historical pictures from the legendary life of St. Mark abound in
the Venetian school, but are not often found out of Venice.

St. Mark preaching the Gospel at Alexandria, by Gentil Bellini,^
a very large composition with numerous figures, is on many accounts
extremely curious. The painter, who had been at Constantinople,
transferred to Alexandria the Oriental scenery and costume with
which he had become acquainted. The church of St. Euphemia at
Alexandria, in the background, has the air of a Turkish mosque ;
a crowd of persons, men and women, in the costume of the Tuiks,
surround the Saint, who is standing on a kind of pedestal or plat-
form, ascended by a flight of steps, from w^hich he addresses his
audience with great fervour. Gentil Bellini painted this picture
for the Scuola di San Marco, at Venice.

It is related that one day St. Mark, in his progress through the
city of Alexandria, saw a poor cobbler, who had wounded his hand
severely with his awl, so as to be incapacitated from gaining his
bread: St. Mark healed the w^ound: and the cobbler, whose name
was Anianus, being converted and properly instructed, became a
zealous Christian, and succeeded St. Mark as Bishop of Alexandria.
This miraculous cure of St. Anianus, and his subsequent baptism, are
represented in two pictures by Mansueti.^ In the Berlin Gallery is
the cure of St. Anianus, by Cima da Conegliano ; a large composition
with many figures. The cure and baptism of St. Anianus, represented
as a very aged man, form the subjects of two fine bas-reliefs on the
facade of the School of St. Mark, by Tullio Lombardo, a.d. 1502.

In the Martyrdom of St. Mark, he is dragged through the streets
by the enraged populace, who haul him along by a rope ; a storm
from above overwhelms the idolaters. The subject is thus represented
by Angelico da Fiesole.^

A famous legend of St. Mark, which has been the subject of
several pictures, can only be worthily given in the language of the
old Venetian chronicle: there is something perfectly charming in
the picturesque naivete and matter-of-fact detail with which this

• Brera, Milan. 2 ^ ^ i.r^oo. Scuola di S. Marco, Venice. ^ pj q.^^

ST. MARK. Ul

wild and wonderful story is related ; and if you, reader, have ever
stood on tlie steps of the Piazzetta and looked over to San Giorgio,
or San Niccolo, when the waves of the Lagune were foaming and
driving up to your feet, and storm-clouds stooping and lowering
seemed to touch the very domes and campanile around, then you
will have the whole scene as a reality before you.

' On the 25th of February 1340, there fell out a wonderful thing
in this land ; for during three days the waters rose continually, and
in the night there was fearful rain and tempest, such as had never
been heard of. So great was the storm that the waters rose three
cubits higher than had ever been known in Venice ; and an old
fisherman being in his little boat in the canal of St. Mark, reached
with difficulty the Riva di San Marco, and there he fastened his
boat, and waited the ceasing of the storm. And it is related that, at
the time this storm was at the highest, there came an unknown man,
and besouo:ht him that he would row him over to San Gioro-io Ma.o^-
giore, promising to pay him well ; and the fisherman replied, *^ How
it is possible to go to San Giorgio ? we shall sink by the way ! "
But the man only besought him the more that he should set forth.
So, seeing that it was the will of God, he arose and rowed over to
San Giorgio Maggiore ; and the man landed there, and desired the
boatman to wait. In a short while he returned with a young man ;
and they said, " Now row towards San Niccolo di Lido." And the
fisherman said, '' How can one possibly go so far with one oar? " And
they said, " Row boldly, for it shall be possible to thee, and thou shalt
be well paid." And he went; and it appeared to him as if the waters
were smooth. Being arrived at San Niccolo di Lido, the two men
landed, and returned with a third, and, having entered into the boat,
they commanded the fisherman that he should row beyond the two
castles. And the tempest raged continually. Being come to the
open sea, they beheld approaching, with such terrific speed that it
appeared to fly over the waters, an enormous galley full of demons
(as it is written in the Chronicles, and Marco Sabellino also makes
mention of this miracle) : the said bark approached the castles to
overwhelm Venice, and to destroy it utterly ; anon the sea, which
had hitherto been tumultuous, became calm ; and these three men,
having made the sign of the cross, exorcised the demons, and com-

I

16S SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

manded them to depart, and immediately the galley or the ship
vanished. Then these three men commanded the fisherman to land
them, the one at San Niccolo di Lido, the other at San Giorgio
Maggiore, and the third at San Marco. And when he had landed
the third, the fisherman, notwithstanding the miracle he had wit-
nessed, desired that he would pay him ; and he replied, ^^ Thou art
right ; go now to the Doge, and to the Procuratore of St. Mark, and
tell them what thou hast seen, for Venice would have been over-
whelmed had it not been for us three. I am St. Mark the Evangelist,
the protector of this city ; the other is the brave knight St. George ;
and he whom thou didst take up at the Lido is the holy bishop St.
Nicholas. Say to the Doge and to the Procuratori ^ that they are to
pay you ; and tell them likewise that this tempest arose because of a
certain schoolmaster dwelling at San Felice, who did sell his soul to
the devil, and afterwards hanged himself." And the fisherman re-
plied, *^ If I should tell them this, they will not believe me." Then
St. Mark took off a ring which was on his finger, which ring was
worth five ducats; and he said, ^^ Show them this, and tell them
when they look in the sanctuary they will not find it ; " and there-
upon he disappeared. The next morning, the said fisherman pre-
sented himself before the Doge and related all he had seen the
night before, and showed him the ring for a sign. And the Pro-
curatori having sent for the ring, and sought in the usual place,
found it not ; by reason of which miracle the fisherman was paid,
and a solemn procession was ordained, giving thanks to God, and
to the relics of the three holy saints, who rest in our land, and who
delivered us from this great danger. The ring was given to Signor
Marco Loredano and to Signor Andrea Dandolo the Procuratori, who
placed it in the sanctuary; and, moreover, a perpetual provision
was made for the aged fisherman above mentioned.'^

This legend is the subject of two celebrated pictures : — The first,
attributed to Giorgione,^ represents the storm. A ship, manned
by demons, is seen towering over the waves : the demons appear to
be seized with consternation ; some fling themselves headlong over
the side of their vessel, others are clinging to the rigging, others

' The Procuradori liad tlie charge of the church and the treasury of St. Mark.
* Sanuto, Vite de* Duci Veneti. ^ Acad. A^enice.

ST. MARK.

159

sit on the masts which flame with fire, and the glare is seen over the
murky sky and sea. More in front are two barks, one rowed by four
satyr-like demons, splendid figures admirably painted, literally
glowing as if they were red-hot, and full of fierce animation. In
the other bark are seen the three saints, St. Mark, St. Nicholas, and
St. George, rowed by the fisherman ; sea-monsters are sporting amid
the waves, demons bestride them ; the city of Venice is just visible
in the far-off distance. The whole picture is full of vigour and poetic
feeling ; the fiery glow of colour and the romantic style of Giorgione
suited the subject ; and it has been admirably restored.

The second picture is by Paris Bordone,^ and represents the fisher-
man presenting the miraculous ring of St. Mark to the Doge Grade-
nigo. It is like a grand piece of scenic decoration ; we have before
us a magnificent marble hall, with columns and buildings in perspec-
tive ; to the right, on the summit of a flight of steps, sits the Doge
in council ; the poor fisherman, ascending the steps, holds forth the
ring. The numerous figures, the vivid colour, the luxuriant archi-
tecture, remind us of Paul Veronese, with, however, more delicacy,
both in colour and execution.

A Christian slave, in the service of a certain nobleman of Provence,
disobeyed the commands of his lord, and persisted in paying his
devotions at the shrine of St. Mark, which was at some distance. On
his return home, he was condemned to the torture. As it was about
to be inflicted, the saint himself descended from heaven to aid his
votary; the instruments of torture were broken or blunted, the
oppressor and his executioners confounded. This legend is the sub-
ject of a celebrated picture by Tintoretto,^ of which Mr Rogers had
the original sketch. The slave lies on the ground amid a crowd of
spectators, who look on, animated by all the various emotions of
sympathy, rage, terror; a woman in front, with a child in her arms,
as always been admired for the life-like vivacity of her attitude and
expression. . The executioner holds up the broken implements ; St.
Mark, with a headlong movement, seems to rush down from heaven

In haste to save his worshipper; the dramatic grouping in this picture

^ Acad. Venice. * Ibid.

VOL. I.

154 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

is wonderful ; the colouring, in its gorgeous depth and harmony, is
in Mr Roger's sketch finer than in the picture.

In St. Mark's, at Venice, we find the whole history of St. Mark on
the vault of the Cappella Zen (opening from the Baptistery), in a
series of very curious mosaics of the twelfth century. The tran-
slation of the body of St. Mark; the carrying off the relics from
Alexandria ; their arrival in Venice ; the grand religious ceremonies
which took place on their arrival ; are also represented in the mosaics
over the portico of St. Mark's, executed chiefly between 1650 and
1680. We have the same legend in two compositions of Tintoretto:^
in the first, the remains of St. Mark are taken forcibly from the
tomb by the Venetian mariners ; in the other, they are borne away
to sea in a nightstorm, while in the air is seen hovering a bright
transparent form, — the soul of the saint flitting with his body to
Venice.

St. Luke.

Lat. Sanctus Luca. Ital. San Luca. Fr. Saint Luc. (Oct. 18.)

Of the real history of St. Luke we know very little. He was not an
apostle ; and, like St. Mark, appears to have been converted after the
ascension. He was a beloved disciple of St. Paul, whom he accom-
panied to Rome, and remained with his master and teacher till the last.
It is related, that, after the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul, he
preached the Gospel in Greece and Egypt; but whether he died a
natural death, or suffered martyrdom, does not seem clear. The Greek
traditions represent him as dying in peace, and his death was thus
figured on the ancient doors of San Paolo at Rome. Others affirm
that he was crucified at Patras with St. Andrew.

There is some ground for the supposition that Luke was a phj^sician.
(Col. iv. 14.) But the pretty legend which makes him a painter, and
represents him as painting the portrait of the Virgin Mary, is unsup-
ported by any of the earlier traditions. It is of Greek origin, still
universally received by the Greek Church, which considers painting a
religious art, and numbers in its calender of saints a long list of painters,
as well as poets, musicians, and physicians. * Les Grecs,' says Didron^

^ Venice. Ducal Palace.

ST. LUKE. 155

^ semblent avoir canonise des cliretiens uniquement parce qu'ils s'occu-
paient de soulager le corps ou de charmer I'esprit.' In the west of
Europe, the legend which represents St. Luke as a painter can be
traced no higher than the tenth century ; the Greek painters intro-
duced it ; and a rude drawing of the Virgin discovered in the Cata-
combs, with an inscription purporting that it was ' one of seven painted
by Luca,' confirmed the popular belief that St. Luke the Evangelist
was meant. Thus originated the fame of innumerable Yirgins of
peculiar sanctity, all attributed to his hand, and regarded with
extreme veneration. Such ancient pictures are generally of Greek
workmanship, and of a black complexion.^ In the legend of St. Luke
we are assured that he carried with him everywhere two portraits,
painted by himself; one of our Saviour, and one of the Virgin ; and
that by means of these he converted many of the heathen, for not
only did they perform great miracles, but all who looked on these
bright and benign faces, which bore a striking resemblance to each
other, were moved to admiration and devotion. It is also said, that
St. Luke painted many portraits of the Virgin, delighting himself by
repeating this gracious image ; and in the church of Santa Maria in
Via Lata, at Rome, they still show a little chapel in which, ' as it
hath been handed down from the first ages, St. Luke the Evangelist
wrote, and painted the eflSgy of the Virgin-Mother of God.'

On the strength of this tradition, St. Luke has been chosen as the
patron saint of painters. Academies of art are placed under his par-
ticular protection ; their chapels are dedicated to him, and over
the altar we see him in his charming and pious avocation, that of
painting portraits of the Blessed Virgin for the consolation of the
faithful.

^ The little black virgin of the Monte della Guardia, near Bologna, I saw carried in grand
procession through the streets of that city, in May 1847. The following inscription is
engiaved on a tablet in the church of San Domenico and San Sisto at Rome : *Here at the
liigh altar is preserved that image of the most blessed Mary, which, being delineated by St.
Luke the Evangelist, received its colours and form divinely. This is that image with which
St. Gregory the Great (according to St. Antoniue), as a suppliant, purified Home ; and the
pestilence being dispelled, the angel messenger of peace, from the summit of the castle of
Adrian, commanding the Queen of Heaven to rejoice, restored health to the city.' A Virgin
in the Ara Coeli pretends to the same honour : both these are black and ugly, while that in
the S. Maria in Cosmedino is of uncommon dignity and beauty. — See 'Legends of the
Madonna,' Introduction, p. xli.

166 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

The devotional figures of St Luke, in his character of evangelist,
represent him in general with his Gospel and his attendant ox, winged
or unwinged, as already described : but in Greek Art, and in those
schools of Art which have been particularly under the Byzantine
influence (as the early Venetian), we see St. Luke as evangelist
young and beardless, holding the portrait of the Virgin as his attri-
bute in one hand and his Gospel in the other. A beautiful figure of
St. Luke as evangelist and painter is in the famous ' Heures d'Anne
de Bretagne.'^

In an engraving by Lucas v. Leyden, executed as it should seem
in honour of his patron saint, St. Luke is seated on the back of his
ox writing the Gospel ; he wears a hood like an old professor, rests
his book against the horns of the animal, and his inkstand is sus-
pended on the bough of a tree. But separate devotional figures of
him as patron are as rare as those of St. Matthew.

St. Luke painting the Virgin has been a frequent and favourite
subject. The most famous of all is a picture in the Academy of St.
Luke, at Kome, ascribed to Raphael. Here St. Luke, kneeling on a
footstool before an easel, is busied painting the Virgin with the Child
in her arms, who appears to him out of heaven sustained by clouds :
behind St. Luke stands Raphael himself, looking on. Another of
the same subject, a very small and beautiful picture, also ascribed to
Raphael, is in the Grosvenor Gallery. In neither of these pictures
is the treatment quite worthy of that great painter, wanting his
delicacy both of sentiment and execution. There is a most curious
and quaint example in the Munich Gallery, attributed to Van Eyck ;
here the Virgin, seated under a rich Gothic canopy, holds on her
lap the Infant Christ, in a most stiff attitude ; St Luke, kneeling on
one knee, is taking her likeness. There is another, similar in style,
by Aldegraef, in the Vienna Gallery. Carlo Maratti represents St.
Luke as presenting to the Virgin the picture he has painted of her.
St. Luke painting the Madonna and Child, while an angel is grind-
ing his colours, I remember in the Agaado Gallery ; a late Spanish
picture.^

i MS. A.D. 1500. Paris, Bib. Imp. 2 p. rIzj, ^ d. igco.

X

1

1

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^

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1

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ST. JOHN. J 5^

St. John.

Lat. Sanctus Johannes. Gr. St. John Theologos, or the Divine. Ital. San Giovanni
Evangelista. Fr. Saint Jean; Messire Saint Jehan. Ger. Der Heilige Johann.
(Dec. 27, A.D. 99.)

Of St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, so little is certainly known,
that we have no data on which to found an individual portrait ; there-
fore any representation of them as venerable and inspired teachers
suffices to the fancy : but it is quite otherwise with St. John, the most
distinguished of the evangelists, and the most beloved of the disciples
of our Lord. Of him sufficient is known to convey a distinct impres-
sion of his personal character, and an idea of what his personal
appearance may have been, supposing this outward semblance to
have harmonised with the inward being.

He was the son of the fisherman Zebedee, and, with his brother
James, among the first followers of the Saviour. He is emphatically
called ' the disciple whom Jesus loved ; ' a preference which he
merited, not only from the extreme purity of his life and character, but
from his devoted and affectionate nature. He appears to have been
at all times the constant companion of his divine Lord; and his life,
while the Saviour was on earth, inseparable from His. In all the
memorable circumstances recorded in the Gospel he was a party, or
at least present. He witnessed the glory of the transfiguration; he
leaned on the bosom of Jesus at the Last Supper; lie stood by the
cross in the hour of agony ; he laid the body of his crucified Master
in the sepulchre. After the death of the Virgin Mother, who had
been confided to his care, he went about Judaea, preaching the Gospel
with St. Peter. He then travelled into Asia Minor, where he founded
1^- the Seven Cliurches, and resided principally at Ephesus. During the
I^Ppersecution of the Christians under Domitian, St. John was sent in
fetters to Rome ; and, according to a tradition generally received in

I the Roman Church, he v/as cast into a caldron of boiling oil, but
was miraculously preserved, and ' came out of it as out of a refreshing
I

IPS SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

bath.' He was then accused of magic, and exiled to the island of
Patmos, in the ^gean Sea, where he is said to have written his Reve-
lation. After the death of the Emperor Domitian he was released,
and returned to his church at Ephesus ; and for the use of the Chris-
tians there he is said to have written his Gospel, at the age of ninety.
A few years afterwards he died in that city, being nearly a century
old. All the incidents here touched upon occur frequently as subjects
of Art, but most of them belong properly to the life of Christ.

The personal character of St. John, at once attractive and pictu-
resque, has rendered him popular as a patron saint, and devotional
pictures of him are far more numerous than of any of the other
evangelists.

He is represented in one of his three characters : 1, as evangelist ;
2, as apostle; 3, as prophet; or the three are combined in one figure.

1. Of the early eagle symbol, I have spoken at length.

In Greek Art, whether as apostle or evangelist, St. John is always
an aged man with white hair, and a venerable beard descending to
his breast; and by the earlier Latin painters, where he figures as
evangelist only, not as apostle, this type has been adhered to ; but
the later painters set it aside, and St. John the Evangelist, nearly a
century old, has all the attributes of the youthful apostle. He is
beardless, with light curling hair, and eyes gazing upwards in a rap-
ture of inspiration : he is sometimes seated with his pen and his book,
sometimes standing; the attendant eagle always near him, and fre-
quently holding the pen or inkhorn in his beak.

In some of the old prints and pictures, which represent St. John
as writing the Gospel, his eyes are turned on the Virgin with the
Infant Christ in her arms, who appear as a vision in the skies above ;
underneath, or on his book, is inscribed, — * The word was made flesh,'
or some other text of the same import. The eagle at his side has
sometimes the nimbus or a crown of stars,^ and is then perhaps
intended to figure the Holy Ghost.

I remember an instance in which the devil, intent on intercepting
the message of reconcilement and ' goodwill towards men,' which was
destined to destroy his empire on earth, appears behind St. John, and

^ As in the Missal of Henry VIII. Bodleian, Oxford.

ST. JOHN.

159

is oversetting the ink upon the pages ; another, in which he is stealing
away the inkhorn.

2. As one of the series of apostles, St. John is always, in Western
Art, young, or in the prime of life ; with little or no beard ; flowing
or curling hair, generally of a pale brown or golden hue, to express
the delicacy of his nature; and in his countenance an expression of
benignity and candour. His drapery is, or
ought to be, red, with a blue or green tunic.
He bears in his hand the sacramental cup,
from which a serpent is seen to issue. St.
Isidore relates that, at Rome, an attempt was
made to poison St. John in the cup of the
sacrament; he drank of the same, and admin-
istered it to the communicants without injury,
the poison having by a miracle issued from
the cup in the form of a serpent, while the
hired assassin fell down dead at his feet. Ac-
cording to another version of this story, the
poisoned cup was administered by order of
the Emperor Domitian. According to a third
version, Aristodemus, the high priest of
Diana, at Ephesus, defied him to drink of the
l)oisoned chalice, as a test of the truth of his
mission ; St. John drank unharmed, — the
priest fell dead. Others say, and this seems
the more probable interpretation, that the
cup in the hand of St. John alludes to the -T^^-'r^^-^"^ — •^^^•
reply given by our Saviour, when the mother ^o st. Johnr (Hans nemUng.)
of James and John requested for her sons the place of honour in
heaven, — ^ Ye shall drink indeed of my cup.' As in other instances,
the legend was invented to explain the symbol. When the cup has
the consecrated wafer instead of the serpent, it signifies the institu-
tion of the Eucharist.

Some of the old German representations of St. John are of singular
beauty : for example, one by Hans Hemling^ one by Isaac von Melem^
standing figures ; simple, graceful, majestic ; in the prime of youth, ;

* Both among the fine lithographs of the Boisserde Gallery, (r. Nos. 5, 15, 25.)

I(i0

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

with a charming expression of devotion in the heads : both hold the

sacramental cup with the serpent; no eagle; therefore St. John is liere

to be considered as the apostle only ; when, with the cup, the eagle is

placed by his side, he is represented in the

double character of apostle and evangelist

(61).

In the early Siena school, and in some old
illuminations, I have seen St. John carrying
in his hand a radiant circle, inscribed ' In
_primo est verhum^ and within the circle an
eagle with outspread wings : but this is un-
common.

/ 3. St. John as the prophet, the writer of
the Eevelation, is usually an aged man,
with a white flowing beard, seated in a rocky
desert; the sea in the distance, or flowing
round him, to represent the island of Pat-
mos ; the eagle at his side. In the old
frescoes, and the illuminated MSS. of the
Apocalypse, this is the usual representation.

St. John. (Raphael.)

Some examples of the ideal and devotional
figures of St. John, as evangelist and prophet, will give an idea of
the variety of treatment in this favourite subject : —

1. Ancient Greek. St. John, with the head of an eagle and large
wings, the figure fully draped, is soaring upwards. In such repre-
sentations the inscription is usually ^ Quasi aquila ascendet et avolabit '
(^ Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle.' Jer.xlix. 22).

2. Perugino. St. John as an aged man, with long grey beard and
flowing hair, attended by a black eagle, looking up at the Madonna
in glory. ^

^. Raphael (?). St. John, j^oung and beautiful, mounted on the
back of an eagle, and soaring heavenwards ; in one hand he holds a

* Acad. Bologna.

ST. JOHN.

161

W^<.>^

St John.

St. John in Sant' Andrea.

tablet, in the other a pen ; sea and land below. This treatment,
which recalls the antique Jupiter be-
striding his eagle, appears to me at
once too theatrical and too common-
place for Raphael.^

4. Correggio. St. John seated writ-
ing his Gospel; the eagle at his feet
is pluming his wing ; inscribed ' Altius
cceteris Dei patefecit arcana,'' One of
the series of Evangelists in the Duomo
of Parma — wonderfully beautiful.

5. Domenichino. St. John, full-
length, life size ; young and beautiful,
in an ecstacy of inspiration, and sus-
tained by two angels ; the eagle at his
feet : formerly in the Giustiniani
Gallery ; ^ — finer, I think, than the
Another, half length, a scroll in his hand, looking upwards as one
to w^hom the glory of the heavens had been opened ; — you see it
reflected in his eyes, — while love, wonder, devotion, beam from his
beautiful face and parted lips; behind him hovers the attendant
eagle, holding the pen in his beak ; near him is the chalice, with
the serpent ; so that here he is in his double character of apostle
and evangelist.^ Domenichino excelled in St. Johns, as Guido in
Magdalenes ; perhaps the most beautiful of all is that in the Brera,
at Milan, where St. John bends on one knee at the foot of the throne
of the Madonna and Child, his pen in one hand, the other pressed to
his bosom, and looking up to them with an air of ecstatic inspiration.
Two little angels, or rather amoretti^ are in attendance : one has his
arms round the neck of the eagle, sporting with it ; the other holds
up the cup and the serpent. Every detail is composed and painted to
admiration ; but this is the artistic and picturesque, not the religious,
version of the subject.

St. John is frequently represented with St. Peter, because, after the
ascension, they taught and acted in concert. In such pictures, the

^ Musee, Marseilles. ^ Leigh Court, Gal. of Mr Miles.

^ Petersburg, Gal, of Prince Narishkeu. Eng. by Miiller.

VOL. I.

102 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

contrast between the fiery resolve and sturdy, rugged grandeur which
is given to St. Peter, and the refinement, mildness, and personal grace
of St. John, produces a fine eficct : as in Albert Diirer's picture, ^
where John is holding open the Gospel, and Peter apparently reading
it ; two grand and simple figures, filling the mind as we gaze upon
them. As this picture was painted after Albert Diirer became a Pro-
testant, I have thought it possible that he might have had some
particular meaning in thus making Peter study the Gospel of John.
At all events, Albert Diirer was quite capable of such an intention ;
and, whether intended or not, the picture maybe, and has been, thus
interpreted. The prophets and the poets often say more than they
intended, for their light was for others more than for themselves : so
also the great painters — the Raphaels and Albert Diirers — prophets
and poets in their way. When I have heard certain critics ridiculed
because they found more in the productions of a Shakespeare or a
Raphael than the poet or painter himself ever perceived or ^ intended,'
such ridicule has appeared to me in the highest degree presumptuous
and absurd. The true artist ^ feels that he is greater than he knows.'
In giving form or utterance to the soul within him, does he account
to himself for all the world of thoughts his work will excite in the
minds of others ? Is its significance to be circumscribed either by
the intention and the knowledge of the poet, or the comprehension
of the age in which he lived? That is the characteristic of the
second-rate, self-conscious poets or painters, whom we read or study
because they reflect to us a particular meaning — a particular period,
— but not of the Homers and Shakespeares, the Raphaels and Albert
Diirers ; they speak to all times, to all men, with a suggestive
significance, widening, deepening with every successive generation ;
and to measure their depth of meaning by their own intention^ or by
the comprehension of their own or any one generation, what is it
but to measure the star of heaven by its apparent magnitude ? — an
inch rule will do that I

But to return from this digression. In devotional pictures we
often see St. John the Evangelist and St. John the Baptist standing
together ; or on each side of Christ, or of the Madonna and Child.

^ Muuicli Gal.

ST. JOHN. 163

There is a peculiar propriety and significance in this companionship :
both are, then, to be considered as prophets ; they were, besides,
kinsmen, and bore the same name ; and St. John the Evangelist was
the disciple of John the Baptist before he was called by Christ.
Here, again, the contrast between the dark, emaciated, hairy prophet
of the wilderness, and the graceful dignity of the youthful apostle,
has a striking effect. An example at hand is the bronze bas-relief
on the tomb of Henry YU.^ Madonna pictures, in which the two
St. Johns stand before her throne, occur frequently. I remember,
also, a marble group of the Virgin and Child, in which the two St.
Johns, as infants, are playing at her feet, one with his eagle, the
other with his reed cross.^

As one who bore the most direct testimony to the Incarnation, St.
John is often introduced into Madonna pictures and pictures of the
ISTativity ; but in the later schools only. In these instances he points
significantly to the Child, and the sacramental cup and wafer is
either in his hand or at his feet, or borne by an angel.

The historical and dramatic subjects in which St. John figures as
a principal personage are very numerous. As the scriptural scenes
belong properly to the life of Christ, I shall confine myself here to
some observations on the manner in which St. John is introduced and
treated in such pictures. In general he is to be distinguished from
the other apostles by his youth and beauty and flowing hair, and
by being placed nearest to Christ as the most beloved of His dis-
ciples.

' The mother of James and John imploring from our Saviour the
highest place in heaven for her two sons.' (Matt. xx. 21): a picture
by Bonifazio, in the Borghese Gallery, beautiful both in sentiment
and colour. There is another example by Paul Veronese ; and an-
other, by Tintoretto, was in the Coesvelt Gallery. I must observe
that, except in Venetian pictures, I have not met with this incident
as a separate subject.

In the Last Supper, Peter is generally on the right of Christ, and
St. John on the left : he leans his head down on the bosom of Christ

^ Westmin. Abbey. ^ Rome, S. Maria-sopra-Minerva.

164 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

(this is always the attitude in the oldest pictures) ; or he leans
towards Christ, who places His hand upon his shoulder, drawing him
towards Him with an expression of tenderness : this is the action in
the fresco by Raphael lately discovered at Florence. But I must
reserve the full consideration of this subject for another place.

Where, instead of the Last Supper, our Saviour is represented as
administering the Eucharist, St. John is seen on His right hand,
bearing the cup.

In the Crucifixion, when treated as a religious rather than an
historical subject, St. John stands on the left of the Cross, and the
Virgin on the right ; both in attitudes of the profoundest grief and
adoration mingled. In general the motif oi this sacred subject does
not vary ; but I remember examples, in which St. John is seen
trampling a Jew under his feet; on the other side the Virgin
tramples on a veiled woman, signifying the old law, the synagogue,
as opposed to the Christian Church, of which the Virgin was the
received symbol.

When the Crucifixion is a scene or action, not a mystery, then St.
John is beheld afar oif, with the women who followed their divine
Master to Calvary.

St. John and the Virgin Mary retm-ning from the Crucifixion : he
appears to be sustaining her slow and fainting steps. I have only
once met with this beautiful subject, in a picture by Zurbaran, in the
Munich Gallery.

In the Descent from the Cross, St. John is a chief actor ; he gene-
rally sustains the head of the Saviour, and is distinguished by an
expression of extreme sorrow^ and tenderness. In the Entombment
he is sometimes one of the bearers, sometimes he follows lamenting.
In a print of the Entombment after Andrea Mantegna, he is not only
weeping and wringing his hands as usual, but absolutely crying aloud
with the most exaggerated expression of anguish. In pictures of
the Descent of the Holy Ghost, St. John is usually a conspicuous
figure, and in the foreground. In the Assumption of the Virgin, he
is also conspicuous, generally in front, as the pendant to St. Peter,
and gazing upwards v/ith ecstatic faith and devotion.

Of course there is great variety in these representations : \he^ later
painters thought less of individual character and significant propriety

ST. JOHN.

166

of arrangement than of artistic grouping ; therefore the above re-
marks have reference to the early painters onl3\

In the scenes taken from the Acts, St. John is always in com-
panionship with St. Peter, and becomes the secondary figm-e.

St. John writing his Revelation in the island of Patmos is a subject
which frequently occurs in MSS. of the Apocalypse, and in the chapels
dedicated to St. John. The motif is
generally the same in all ; we have
a desert island, with the sea in the
distance, or flowing round it ; St.
John, seated on a rock or under a
tree, is in the act of writing ; or he
is looking up to heaven, where the
' Woman crowned with stars,' or
^the Woman fleeing from the dra-
gon,' appears as in his vision.-^ (Rev.
xii.) Or he beholds St. Michael,
armed, cast down the dragon in
human form ; he has the eagle and
book, and looks up at the Virgin as
in a picture by Ambrogio Figino.^
The eagle is always in attendance as
the symbol of inspiration in a
general sense ; when represented 63 st. John. (Lucas v Leyden.)
with a diadem, or glory, as in some very early examples, it is a
symbol of the Holy Ghost, which, among the Jews, was figured by
the eagle.

The subjects from the legendary life of St. John are exceedingly
interesting, but they are not easily recognised, and require particular
attention ; some are of frequent occurrence, others rarely met with.

1. Israel v. Meckenen. St. John Instructing his Disciples at
Ephesus. (Acts iv. 37.) The scene is the interior of a Gothic
church, the windows painted with, heraldic emblazonments; St.
John is seated expounding the Scriptures, and five disciples sit
opposite to him with coarse ugly faces, but most intent, expressive
countenances ; in the background, a large chest full of money.

^ v. * Legends of the Madonna.' ^ Brera, Milan.

166 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

2. Yatican, Chr. Mus. St. John drinking from tlie poisoned
chalice ; a man falls down dead at his feet, several figures look on
with awe and astonishment : this is a frequent subject in the elder
schools of Art, and in the illuminated MSS. of the Gospel and
Apocalypse ; but I have never met with a representation later than
the beginning of the fourteenth century.-^

3. It is related by Clement of Alexandria, that when St. John was
at Ephesus, and before he was exiled to Patmos, he had taken to his
care a young man of promising qualities of person and mind. During
his absence he left him under the spiritual guidance of a certain
bishop ; but, after a while, the youth took to evil courses, and, pro-
ceeding from one excess to another, he at length became the leader
of a band of robbers and assassins who struck terror into the whole
country. When St. John returned to Ephesus, he went to the bishop
and demanded ' the precious deposit he had left in his hands.' At
first the priest did not understand him; but when St. John explained
the allusion to his adopted son, he cast down his eyes with sorrow
and shame, and told of what had befallen. Then St. John rent his
garments, and wept with a loud voice, and cried out, ' Alas ! alas !
to what a guardian have I trusted our brother ! ' And he called for
a horse and rode towards the forest in which the robbers sojourned ;
and when the captain of the robbers beheld his old master and
instructor, he turned and would have fied from his presence; but
St. John, by the most fervent entreaties, prevailed on him to stop
and listen to his words. After some conference, the robber, utterly
subdued, burst into tears of penitence, imploring forgiveness ; and
while he spoke, he hid beneath his robe his right hand, which had
been sullied with so many crimes ; but St. John, falling on his knees
before him, seized that blood-polluted hand, and kissed it, and bathed
it with his tears ; and he remained with his re-converted brother till
he had, by prayers and encouraging words and affectionate exhorta-
tions, reconciled him with Heaven and with himself.

This beautiful legend is the subject of some old engravings, in which

^ We find among the relics exhibited on great occasions in the church of the S. Croce at
Rome 'the cup in which St. John, the apostle and evangelist, by command of Domitian the
emperor, drank poison without receiving any injury; which afterwards being tasted by his
attendants, on the instant they fell dead.'

ST. JOHN. 167

St. John is represented embracing the robber, who is weeping on his
neck, having flung away his weapons. It has been, however, too rarely
treated; I have never met with a picture of the subject; and yet it
abounds in picturesque capabilities : the forest background — the con-
trast of youth and age — bright armour, flowing drapery, and the
most striking and aflecting moral, are here all combined.

4. Another very pretty apologue relating to St. John is sometimes
included in a series of subjects from his life. Two young men, who
had sold all their possessions to follow him, afterwards repented.
He, perceiving their thoughts, sent them to gather pebbles and faggots,
and, on their return, changed these into money and ingots of gold,
saying to them, ' Take back your riches and enjoy them on earth, as
you regret having exchanged them for heaven ! ' This story is
represented on one of the windows of the Cathedral at Bourges. The
two young men stand before St. John, with a heap of gold on one
side, and a heap of stones and faggots on the other.

5. When St. John had sojourned in the island of Patmos a year and
a day, he returned to his church at Ephesus ; and as he approached the
city, being received with great joy by the inhabitants, lo ! a funeral
procession came forth from the gates ; and of those who followed
weeping he inquired ' who was dead? ' They said, ' Drusiana.' Now
when he heard that name he was sad, for Drusiana had excelled in all
good works, and he had formerly dwelt in her house ; and he ordered
them to set down the bier, and having prayed earnestlj^, God was
pleased to restore Drusiana to life ; she arose up, and the apostle
went home with her and dwelt in her house.

This incident is the subject of a fine fresco, painted by Filippo
Lippi, on the left hand wall of the Strozzi Chapel at Florence. It
has the forcible expression and dramatic spirit of the painter, with
that characteristic want of elevated feeling in the countenances and
in the general treatment which is apparent in all his works : the
group in one corner, of a child starting from a dog, is admired for its
truth ; but, by disturbing the solemnity of the marvellous scene, it
repels like a falsehood.

6. There is another beautiful and picturesque legend relating to St.
John, of which I have never seen any representation ; but it may
possibly have occasioned the frequent introduction of a partridge

188 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

into the pictures of sacred subjects, particularly in the Venetian
School. St. John had a tame partridge, which he cherished much ;
and he amused himself with feeding and tending it. ' A certain
huntsman, passing by with his bow and arrows, was astonished
to see the great apostle, so venerable for his age and sanctity,
engaged in such an amusement. The apostle asked him if he always
kept his bow bent? He answered, that would be the way to render
it useless. "If," replied St. John, " you unbend your bow to pre-
vent its being useless, so do I thus unbend my mind for the same
reason." '

7. The 6ubject entitled the Martyrdom of St. John represents his
immersion in a caldron of boiling oil, by order of the Emperor
Domitian. According to the received tradition, this event took place
outside the Latin gate at Rome ; and on the spot stands the chapel of
San Giovanni in Olio, commemorating his miraculous deliverance,
which is painted in fresco on the walls. The subject forms, of course,
one of a series of the life of St. John, and is occasionally met with in
old prints and pictures ; but it is uncommon. The treatment affords
little variety ; in Albert Diirer's famous woodcut, St. John is sitting
in a pot of boiling oil ; one executioner is blowing the fire, another
is pouring oil from a ladle on the saint's head; a judge, probably
intended for Domitian, is seated on a throne' to the left, and there
are numerous spectators. Padovanino painted this subject for the
San Pietro at Venice ; Rubens, with horrible truth of detail, for the
altar-piece of St. John at Malines.

It is the martyrdom in the boiling oil which gives St. John the
right to bear the palm, with which he is occasionally seen.

8. St. John, habited in priest's garments, descends the steps of an
altar into an open grave, in which he lays himself down, not in death,
but in sleep, until the coming of Christ : ' being reserved alive with
Enoch and Elijah (who also knew not death), to preach against the
Antichrist in the last days.' This fanciful legend is founded on the
following text : ^ Peter, seeing the disciple whom Jesus loved follow-
ing, saith unto Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do ? Jesus
saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to
thee? Then went this saying abroad among the brethren that that
disciple should not die' (John xxi. 21, 22.)

ST. JOHN.

199

The legend which supposes St. John reserved alive has not been
generally received in the Church, and as a subject of painting it is
very uncommon. It occurs in the Menologium Grascum,^ where the
grave into which St. John descends is, according to the legend, 'fossa
in crucis figuram ' (in the form of a cross). In a series of the deaths
of the Apostles,^ St. John is ascending from the grave ; for, according
to the Greek legend, St. John died without pain or change, and
immediately rose again in bodily form, and ascended into heaven to
rejoin Christ and the Virgin.

In a small and very cmious picture which I saW at Rome,^ forming
part of a Predella, there is a tomb something like the Xanthian tombs
in form ; one end is open ; St. John, with a long grey beard, is seen
issuing from it, and, as he ascends, he is met by Christ, the Virgin,
St. Peter, and St. Paul, who are descending from above; while figures
below look up with astonishment. On the ancient doors of San Paolo
he is lying in an open grave or sarcophagus.

Of the miracles performed by John after his death, two are
singularly interesting in the history of Art ; both have been treated
in sculpture.

9. When the Empress Galla Placidia was returning from Constan-
tinople to Ravenna with her two children (a.d. 425), she encountered
a terrible storm. In her fear and anguish she vowed a vow to St.
John the Evangelist, and, being landed in safety, she dedicated to
his honour a magnificent church. When the edifice was finished,
she was extremely desirous of procuring some relics of the Evangelist,
wherewith to consecrate his sanctuary ; but as it was not the manner
of those days to exhume, and buy and sell, still less to steal, the
bodies of holy men and martyrs, the desire of the pious empress
remained unsatisfied. However, as it is related, St. John himself
took pity upon her; for one night, as she prayed earnestly, he
appeared to her in a vision ; and when she threw herself at his feet
to embrace and kiss them, he disappeared, leaving one of his slippers
or sandals in her hand, which sandal was long preserved.

The antique church of Galla Placidia still exists at Ravenna, to

^ Vatican MSS., tenth century. ^ MSS., ninth century. Paris Nat. Library.
* Vatican, Christian Museum.
VOL. L Y

170 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

keep alive, after the lapse of fourteen centuries, the memory of her
dream, and of the condescension of the blessed apostle. Not much
of the original building is left; the superb mosaics have all dis-
appeared, except a few fragments, in which may be traced the storm
at sea, and Galla Placidia making her vow. Over the principal
porch, which is of white marble, in the Lombard style, and richly
and elegantly ornamented, the miracle of the slipper is represented
in two bas-reliefs, one above the other. The lower compartment,
or lunette, represents a tabernacle, and within it an altar ; St. John
the Evangelist is seen offering incense ; on the other side is Barba-
tion, the confessor of the empress; she, prostrate at the feet of the
apostle, seems to take off his sandal : on each side are six hovering
angels bearing the implements of the mass. In the upper compart-
ment, Galla Placidia is seen kneeling at the feet of Christ, and
offering to him the sacred sandal, while the Evangelist stands on
one side, and Barbation on the other. These bas-reliefs are ngt
older than the twelfth century, and are in excellent preservation :
I should suppose, from the style of the grouping, that they were
copied, or imitated, from the older mosaics, once in the interior of
the church.

10. The other miracle has the rare interest of being English in its
origin and in its representation. ' King Edward the Confessor had,
after Christ and the Virgin Mary, a special veneration for St. John
the Evangelist. One day, returning from his church at Westmin-
ster, where he had been hearing mass in honour of the evangelist,
he was accosted by a pilgrim, who asked of him an alms for the love
of God and St. John. The king, who was ever merciful to the poor,
immediately drew from his finger a ring, and, unknown to any one,
delivered it to the beggar. When the king had reigned twenty -four
years, it came to pass that two Englishmen, pilgrims, returning from
the Holy Land to their own country, were met by one in the habit
of a pilgrim, who asked of them concerning their country; and being
told they were of England, he said to them, " When ye shall have
arrived in your own country, go to King Edward, and salute him in
my name : say to him, that I thank him for the alms which he
bestowed on me in a certain street in Westminster ; for there, on a
certain day, as I begged of him an alms, he bestowed on me this

ST. JOHN. 171

ring, which till now I have preserved, and ye shall carry it back to
him, saying that in six months from this time he shall quit the
world, and come and remain with me for ever." And the pilgrims,
being astounded, said, '^ Who art thou, and where is thy dwelling-
place?" And he answered, saying, '^ I am John the Evangelist.
Edward, your king, is my friend, and for the sanctity of his life I
hold him dear. Go now, therefore, deliver to him this message and
this ring, and I will pray to God that ye may arrive safely in your
own countrj^" When St. John had spoken thus he delivered to
them the ring, and vanished out of their sight. The pilgrims,
praising and thanking the Lord for this glorious vision, went on their
journey; and being arrived in England, they repaired to King
Edward, and saluted him, and delivered the ring and the message,
relating all trulj. And the king received the news joyfully, and
feasted the messengers roj^ally. Then he set himself to prepare for
his departure from this world. On the eve of the Nativity, in the
year of our Lord 1066, he fell sick, and on the eve of the Epiphany
following he died. The ring he gave to the Abbot of Westminster,
to be for ever preserved among the relics there.' ^

According to one account,^ the pilgrims met the king near his
palace at Waltham, at a place since called Havering, The writer
adds, — ' In allusion to this story, King Edward IL offered at his
coronation a pound of gold made in the figure of a king holding a
ring, and a mark of gold (8 oz.) made like to a pilgrim putting
forth his hand to receive the ring.' These must have been two little
statuettes of gold.

The legend of King Edward and St. John the Evangelist is repre-
sented, with other legends of the same monarch, along the top of
the screen of Edward the Confessor's chapel. It is in three com-
partments. The first represents King Edward bestowing the ring
on St. John in the disguise of a pilgrim; Westminster Abbey is
seen behind. The second shows us the meeting of the pilgrims and
St. John in Palestine ; he holds what seems a palm. In the third
the pilgrims deliver the ring to King Edward, who is seated at
table. The sculpture is very rude ; the figures disproportion ed and
ungraceful. They are supposed to be of the time of Henry VI.

^ Johannis Brompton Cionicon, 955. ^ Dart's Hist, of Westminster.

172 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

The same legend was painted on one of the windows of Eomford
church, in Essex, but whether it still exists there I know not.^

Before I quit the subject of the Evangelists, it is worth while to
observe that, in G-reek Art, not only the Four Evangelists, but the
six writers of the Acts and Epistles, are considered as a sacred
series. In an ancient and beautiful MS. of the Epistole Canoniche,
presented by the Queen of Cyprus to Pope Innocent YIIL, they are
thus represented, two and two together : —

St. Luke, with a very thoughtful, earnest countenance, holds a
scroll, on which is written in Greek the commencement of the Acts,
' The former treatise have I made, 0 Theophilus,' &c. ; and St. James,
with a long, very earnest, and refined face, holds a single roll.

St. Peter, with a broad, coarse, powerful physiognomy, strongly
characterised, holds two rolls ; and St. John, with a long, and very
refined face, grey hair and beard, holds three rolls.

St. Jude, with a long white beard and very aquiline nose, holds
one roll. St. Paul, bald in front, with long brown hair and beard,
and a refined face, bears many rolls tied up together.

All the figures are on a gold ground, about six inches in height,
very finely conceived, though, as is usual in Byzantine Art, formal
and mechanical in execution. They look like small copies of very
grand originals. The draperies are all classical ; a pale violet or
brown tunic and a white mantle, as in the old mosaics ; the rolls in
their hands corresponding with the number of their writings.

^ V. Legend of St, Edward the Confessor in the 'Legends of the Monastic Orders,' p. 99.

THE TWELVE APOSTLES.

173

Cije Ctoelbe apostles,

Next to those who recorded the Word of God, were those called by
Christ to the task of diffusing His doctrine, and sent to preach the
kingdom of heaven ' through all nations. '

The earliest representations of the Twelve Apostles appear to have
been, like those of the Four Evangelists, purely emblematical : they
were figured as twelve sheep, with Christ in the midst, as the Good
Shepherd, bearing a lamb in His arms ; or, much more frequently,
Christ is Himself the Lamb of God, raised on an eminence and
crowned with a cruciform nimbus, and the apostles were ranged on
each side as sheep. Instances are to be met with in the old Chris-
tian bas-reliefs. In the old Roman churches ^ we find this represen-
tation but little varied, and the situation is always the same. In

the centre is the lamb standing on an eminence, from which flow
the four rivers of Paradise ; on one side six sheep issuing from the
city of Jerusalem, on the other six sheep issuing from the city of
Bethlehem, the whole disposed in a line forming a sort of frieze,
just below the decoration of the vault of the apsis. The church of S.
M. Maggiore exhibits the only exception I have met with ; there we
find a group of sheep, entering, not issuing from, the gates of Jeru-
salem and Bethlehem : in this case, however, the sheep may repre-
sent believers, or disciples in general, not the Twelve Apostles.
Upon the great crucifix in the apsis of San Clemente, at Rome, are
twelve doves, which appear to signify the Twelve Apostles.

The next step was to represent the Apostles as twelve men all
alike, each with a sheep, and Christ in the middle, also with a sheep,

1 Rome. S. M. in Trastevere. S. Prassede. S. Clemente. S. Cecilia.

174 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

sometimes larger than the others. We find this on some of the
sarcophagi.^ Again, a little later, we have them represented as
twelve venerable men, bearing tablets or scrolls in their hands, no
emblems to distinguish one from another, but their names inscribed
over or beside each. They are thus represented in relief on several
ancient sarcophagi now in the Christian Museum in the Vatican, and
in several of the most ancient churches at Eome and Ravenna,
ranged on each side of the Saviour in the vault of the apsis, or
standing in a line beneath.

But while in the ancient Greek types, and the old mosaics, the attri-
butes are omitted, they adhere almost invariably to a certain charac-
teristic individual representation, which in the later ages of painting
was wholly lost, or at least neglected. In these eldest types, St. Peter
has a broad face, white hair, and short white beard : St. Paul, a long
face, high bold forehead, dark hair and beard : St. Andrew is aged,
with flowing white hair and beard : St. John, St. Thomas, St. Philip,
young and beardless : St. James Major and St. James Minor, in the
prime of life, short brown hair and beard ; both should bear a resem-
blance more or less to the Saviour, but St. James Minor particularly:
St. Matthew, St. Jude, St. Simon, St. Matthias, aged, with white
hair. The tablets or scrolls which they carry in their hands bear, or
are supposed to bear, the articles of the Creed. It is a tradition,
that, before the apostles dispersed to preach tjie Gospel in all lands,
they assembled to compose the declaration of faith since called the
Apostles' Creed, and that each of them furnished one of the twelve
propositions contained in it, in the following order : — St. Peter :
Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, creatorem cosli et terrce. St.
Andrew : Et in Jesum Christum Filium ejus unicum^ Dominum nostrum,
St. James Major : Qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria
Virgine, St. John : Passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus^ mortuus
et sepultus. St. Philip : Descendit ad inferos, tertia die resurrexit
d mortuis, St. James Minor : Ascendit ad coelos, sedet ad dexteram
Dei Patris omnipotentis. St. Thomas : Inde venturus est judicare
vivos et mortuos. St. Bartholomew : Credo in Spiritum Sanctum. St.
Matthew: Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam; sanctorum communionem,

^ Bottari, Tab. xxviii.

THE TWELVE APOSTLES.

175

St. Simon : Remissionem peccatorum. St. Matthias : Carnis resur-
rectionem. St. Thaddeus : Et vitam ceternam.

The statues of the apostles on the shrine of the Virgin in the San

Michele at Florence exhibit a fine example of

this arrangement. I give the figure of St.

Philip, holding his appropriate sentence of the

Creed on a scroll (65).

In later times, the Apostles, instead of being
disposed in a line, are grouped round the
Saviour in glory, or they form a circle of heads
in medallions : as statues, they ornament the
screen in front of the altar, or they are placed
in a line on each side of the nave, standing
against the pillars which support it. From the
sixth century it became usual to distinguish
each of them by a particular emblem or attri-
bute borrowed from some circumstance of his
life or death. Thus, taking them in order,
according to the canon of the mass —
St. Peter bears the keys or a fish.
St. Paul, the sword : sometimes two swords.
St. Andrew, the transverse cross.
St. James Major, the pilgrim's stafi*.
St. John, the chalice with the serpent; some-
times the eagle also ; but the eagle, as I have
observed, belongs to him properly only in his character of Evange-
list.

St. Thomas, a builder's rule : also, but more seldom, a spear.
St. James Minor, a club.

St. Philip, the staff or crosier, surmounted by a cross ; or a small
cross in his hand.

St. Bartholomew, a large knife.

St. Matthew, a purse.

St. Simon, a saw.

St. Thaddeus (or Jude), a halberd or lance.

St. Matthias, a lance.

65

Orcagna.

1T«

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

The origin and meaning of these attributes will be explained pre-
sently : meantime it must be borne in mind, that although in sacred
Art the Apostles are always twelve in number, they are not always
the same personages. St. Jude is frequently omitted to make room
for St. Paul. Sometimes, in the most ancient churches (as in the
Cathedral of Palermo), St. Simon and St. Matthias are omitted, and
the evangelists St. Mark and St. Luke figure in their places. The
Byzantine manual published by Didron omits James Minor, Jude,
and Matthias ; and inserts Paul, Luke, and Mark. This was the
arransrement on the bronze doors of San Paolo-fuori-le-Mura at
Rome, executed by Byzantine artists in the tenth century, and now
destroyed.

On an ancient pulpit, of beautiful workmanship, in the Cathedral of
Troyes, the arrangement is according to the Greek formula.^ Thus —

3 ;q ^ ,-£

J* ^ ii3 ^

^ Ph g Ph

ai m m m

^ M ^
Ph h5 <1

m in III ui \\'i-<

CO PQ Hj 1-5

m xn m xjL

Here, John the Baptist figures in his character of angel or messenger;
and St. Paul, St. Mark, and St. Luke take the place of St. James
Minor, St. Jude, and St. Matthias.

The earliest instance of the Apostles entering into a scheme of eccle-
siastical decoration, as the consecrated and delegated teachers of a
revealed religion, occurs in the church of San Giovanni in I'onte at
Ravenna.^ In the centre of the dome is the Baptism of Christ, repre-
sented quite in the classical style ; the figure of the Saviour being
entirely undraped, and the Jordan, signified by an antique river god,
sedge- crowned, and bearing a linen napkin as though he were an
attendant at a bath. Around, in a circle, in the manner of radii, are
the Twelve Apostles. The order is, — Peter, Andrew, James, John,
Philip, Bartholomew, Simon, Jude, James Minor, Matthew, Thomas,
Paul ; so that Peter and Paul stand face to face at one extremity of

^ The churches in the easteru provinces of France, particularly in Champagne, exhibit
marked traces of the influence of Greek Art in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
2 A.D. 451. Ciampini, Vet. Mon. p. 1, c. iv.

THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 177

the circle, and Simon and Bartliolomew back to back at the other.
All wear pointed caps, and carry the oblation in their hands. Peter
has a yellow vest and white mantle ; Paul, a white vest and a yellow
mantle, and so all around alternate!}'. The name of each is inscribed
over his head, and without the title Sanctus^ which, though admitted
into the Calendar in 449, was not adopted in works of Art till some
years later, about 472.

In the next instance, the attributes had not yet been admitted,
except in the figures of St. Peter and St. Paul.

Mosaic (a.d. 816). Christ, in the centre, stands on an eminence ;
in one hand He holds an open book, on which is inscribed Pax vobis.
St. Peter, with the keys and a cross, stands on the right ; and
Christ, with His right hand, points to the cross. St. Paul is on
the left, with his sword ; beyond, there are ^yq Apostles on one
side, and four on the other : in all, eleven (Judas being properly
omitted). Each holds a book, and all are robed in white ; under-
neath the whole is inscribed, in Latin, the words of our Saviour,
' Go ye, and teach all nations.' On the arch to the right, Christ is
seated on a throne, and presents the keys to St. Peter, who kneels
on one side, and the standard to Constantine, who kneels on the
other (alluding, of course, to the famous standard). On the arch
to the left, St. Peter is throned, and presents the stole to Pope Leo
IIL, and the standard to Charlemagne. This singular monument,
a kind of resume of the power of the Church, is a restoration of the
old mosaic, executed by order of Leo IIL in the Triclinium of the
old palace of the Lateran, and now on one side of the Scala Santa,
the side facing the Porta San Giovanni.

Mosaic, in the old basilica of St. Paul (a.d. 1206). In the centre
an altar veiled, on which are the. Gospels (or perhaps, rather, the
Book of Life^ the seven-sealed book in the Revelations), and the
instruments of the Passion. Behind it rises a large Greek cross,
adorned with gold and jewels. Underneath, at the foot of the altar,
^NQ small figures standing and bearing palms, representing those
who suffered for the cause of Christ ; and on each side, kneeling, the
monk Aginulph, and Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, afterwards Nicholas
III. On each side of the altar, a majestic angel : one bears a scroll,
inscribed Gloria in excelsis Deo ; the other, et in terra pax

VOL. 1. K

178 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

HOMiNiBus BON^ VOLUNTATIS. Beyond these the Apostles, six on each
side, bearing scrolls with the articles of the Creed. They are much
alike, all in white robes, and alternately with each stands a palm-
tree, the symbol of victory and resurrection. This composition, of a
colossal size, formed a kind of frieze (taking the place of the emble-
matical lamb and twelve sheep) round the apsis of the Basilica.

In sculpture, the Apostles, as a series, entered into all decorative
ecclesiastical architecture : sometimes on the exterior of the edifice,
always in the interior. In our English cathedrals they are seldom
found unmutilated, except when out of the reach of the spoiler ; such
was the indiscriminate rage which confounded the venerable effigies
of these delegated teachers of the truth with the images which were
supposed to belong exclusively to the repudiated religion !

Where the scheme of decoration is purely theological, the proper
place of the Apostles is after the Angels, Prophets, and Evangelists ;
but when the motifs or leading idea, implies a special signification,
such as the Last Judgment, Paradise, the Coronation of the Madonna,
or the apotheosis of a saint, then the order is changed, and the
Apostles appear immediately after the Divine Personages and before
the angels, as forming a part of the council or court of heaven;
— ^ When the Son of man shall come in His glory, ye also shall sit
on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' ^ Such is the
arrangement in the Campo Santo, in Angelico's ' Paradiso ' in the
Florence Gallery, in Raphael's ' Disputa,' and many other instances:
and I may add the architectural treatment on the facade of Wells
Cathedral, where, immediately under the Saviour sitting in judgment,
stand \hid Twelve Apostles, and beneath them the hierarchy of angels,
each of the nine choirs being here expressed by a single angel.*
Therefore to determine the proper place of the Apostles, it is neces-
sary to observe well and to understand what has been the design
of the artist, and the leading idea of \X\q^ whole composition, whether
strictly theological or partly scenic. In all monuments which have
a solemn or a sacred purpose, — altars, pulpits, tombs, — the Apostles

^ Matt. xix. 28 ; and Luke xxii. 30.

' I must refer the reader to Mr Cockerell's illustrations and restorations of the rich and
multifarious and siguificant sculpture of Wells Cathedral.

THE TWELVE APOSTLES.

179

find an appropriate place, either iu connection with other sacred
personages, or as a company apart, — the band of teachers. The
range of statues along the top of the screen in front of the choir of
St. Mark's at Venice will be remembered by all who have seen
them : in the centre stand the Virgin and St. Mark, and then the
Apostles, six on each side, grand solemn figures, standing there as
if to guard the sanctuary. These are by Jacobelli, in the simple
religious style of the fifteenth century, but quite Italian. In contrast
with them, as the finest example of German sculptural treatment, we
have the Twelve Apostles on the tomb of St. Sebald, in his church at
Nuremburg, cast in bronze by Peter Vischer (about 1500). These have
become well known by the casts which have lately been brought to
England ; they are about two feet high, all remarkable for the cha-
racteristic expression of the heads, and the grand simplicity of the
attitudes and draperies.

There are instances of the Apostles introduced into a scheme of
ecclesiastical decoration as devotional figures, but assuming, from
the style of treatment and from being placed in relation with other
personages, a touch of the dramatic and picturesque. Such are
Correggio's Apostles in the cupola of the duomo at Parma (1532),
which may be considered as the most striking instance that could
be produced of studied contrast to the solemnity and simplicity of
the ancient treatment : here the motif is essentially dramatic. They
stand round the dome as spectators would stand in a gallery or
balcony, all in picturesque attitudes, studiously varied (some, it
must be confessed, rather extravagant), and all looking up with
amazement, or hope, or joy, or adoration, to the figure of the
glorified Virgin ascending into heaven.

Another series of Apostles in the San Giovanni at Parma, which
Correggio had painted earlier (1522), are conceived, I think, in a
finer spirit as to character, but, perhaps, not more appropriate to the
scene. Here the Twelve Apostles are seated on clouds round the
glorified Saviour, as they are supposed to be in heaven : they are
but partially draped. In the heads but little attention has been
paid to the ancient types, except in those of St. Peter and St. Paul ;
but they are sublime as well as picturesque in the conception of
character and expression.

180 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART,

The Apostles in Michael Angelo's Last Judgment (a.d. 1540)
exhibit a still further deviation from the antique style of treatment.
They stand on each side of the Saviour, who is not here Saviour and
Redeemer, but inexorable Judge. They are grandly and artificially
grouped, all without any drapery whatever, and with forms and atti-
tudes which recall an assemblage of Titans holding a council of war,
rather than the glorified companions of Christ. In early pictures of
Christ in glorj^, the Apostles, His companions in heaven as on earth,
form, with the Patriarchs and Prophets, the celestial court or council :
they sit upon thrones to the right and to the left.^ Raphael's ' Dis-
puta ' in the Vatican is a grand example of this arrangement.

Sets of the Apostles, in devotional pictures and prints, are so
common, that I shall particularise only a few among the most interest-
ing and celebrated. Engravings of these can easily be referred to.

1. A set by Raphael, engraved by Marc Antonio: grand, graceful
figures, and each with his appropriate attribute. Though admirably
distinguished in form and bearing, very little attention has been
paid to the ancient types, except perhaps in St. Peter and St. John.
Here St. James Minor is omitted to make room for St. Paul.

2. A set by Lucas van Leyden, smaller than Raphael's, but magni-
ficent in feeling : here also the ancient types are for the most part
neglected. These two sets should be compared as perfect examples
of the best Italian and the most characteristic Grerman manner.
Some of the German sets are very curious and grotesque.

3. By H. S. Beham, a most curious set, in what may be called
the ultra German style : they stand two and two together, like a
procession of old beggars ; the workmanship exquisite. Another
set by Beham, in which the figures stand singly, and which includes
the Four Evangelists, dressed like old burgomasters, with the
emblematical wings, has been already mentioned.

4. A set by Parmigiano, graceful and mannered, as is usual with
him.

5. By Agostino Caracci. This set, famous as works of Art, must,
when compared with those of Raphael and Lucas van Leyden, be
pronounced absolutely vulgar. Here St. John is drinking out of his
cup, — an idea which might strike some people as picturesque ; but

* Luke xxii. 30.

THE TWELVE APOSTLES.

ISl

it is in vile taste. Thaddeus has a saw as well as Simon; Peter
has the papal tiara at his feet ; St. James Minor, instead of Thomas,
carries the builder's rule ; and St. Bartholomew has his skin thrown
over his shoulders. This set is an example of the confusion which
prevailed with respect to the old religious types and attributes, after
the first half of the sixteenth centur3%

6. ' The Five Disciples,' hj Albert Durer, seem intended to form
part of a complete set. We have St. Paul, St. Bartholomew, St.
Thomas, St. Philip, and St. Simon. The two last are the finest, and
are most grandly conceived.

These are examples of the simplest devotional treatment.

When the Apostles are grouped together in various historical scenes,
— some scriptural, some legendary — they are more interesting as indi-
vidual personages; and the treatment should be more characteristic.
Some of these subjects belong properly to the life of Christ ; as the
Delivery of the Keys to Peter ; the Transfiguration ; the Entry into
Jerusalem ; the Last Supper ; the Ascension. Others, as the Death
and Assumption of the Virgin, will be considered in the Legends of
the Madonna. But there are others, again, which refer more parti-
cularly to the personal history of the Apostles, as related in the Acts
and in the Legends.

The Descent of the Holy Ghost was the first and most important
event after the Ascension of Christ. It is thus described : " When
the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in
one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a
rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were
sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of
fire, and sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit
gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews,
devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was
noised abroad the multitude came together, and were confounded,
because that every man heard them speak in his own language. . . .
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.' (Acts ii. 1-
12, 16.)

According to the usual interpretation, the word t/ie^, in the first

18-2 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

verse, does not signify the Apostles merely, but, with them, * the
women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brethren : ' hence in
60 many representations of this subject the Virgin is not only pre-
sent, but a principal person : Mary Magdalene and others are also
frequently introduced.

1. The most striking example I have yet met with is the grand
mosaic in the principal dome of St. Mark's at Venice. In the apex
of the dome is seen the Celestial Dove in a glory of light ; rays proceed
from the centre on every side, and fall on the heads of the Virgin and
the Twelve Apostles, seated in a circle. Lower down is a series of
twelve figures standing all round the dome ; ' Parthians, Medes, and
Elamites, the dwellers in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus,
Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Cretes, and Arabians,' — each nation
represented by one person, and all in strange dresses, and looking
up with amazement.

2. The Twelve Apostles and the Virgin are seen above seated in an
enclosure ; tongues of fire descend from heaven ; beneath is a closed
door, at which several persons in strange foreign dresses, with turbans,
&c. , are listening with amazement. One of these is in the Chinese
costume, — a curious circumstance, considering the age of the picture,
and which could have occurred at that date nowhere but at Venice.^

3. In the interior of a temple, sustained by slender pillars, the
Twelve Apostles are seated in a circle, and in the midst the Virgin,,
tongues of fire on each head. Here the Virgin is the principal person.^

4. An interior, the Twelve Apostles seated in a circle ; above them,
the Celestial Dove in a glory, and from his beak proceed twelve tongues
of flame : underneath, in a small arch, is the prophet Joel, as an old
man crowned with a kingly crown and holding twelve rolls or scrolls,
indicating the Gospel in so many different languages. The allusion
is to the words of Joel, ii. 28 : ' And I will pour out my Spirit upon
all flesh.' ^ This is the Greek formula, and it is curious that it should
have been closely followed by Pinturicchio ; — thus :

5. In a rich landscape, with cypresses, palm-trees, and birds, the
Virgin is seen kneeling ; St. Peter on the right, and James Minor
on the left, also kneeling; five other Apostles on each side. The

* Venice Acad., fourteenth century. ^ Rosini, vol. iii. p. 75.

* Convent of Chilandari, Mount Athos.

THE TWELVE APOSTLES. jga

Celestial Dove, with .outspread wings, descends in a glory surrounded
by fifteen cherubim : there are no tongues of fire. The prophet Joel
is seen above, with the inscription, ^ Effundam de Spiritu meo super
omnem carnem.^^

6. The Virgin and the Apostles seated ; flames of fire stand on their
heads ; the Holy Ghost appears above in a glory of light, from which
rays are poured on every side. Mary Magdalene, and another Mary,
are present behind ; astonishment is the prevailing expression in every
face, except in the Virgin and St. Peter. The composition is attri-
buted to Raphael.^

The next event of importance is the separation of the Twelve
Apostles when they disperse to preach the Gospel in all lands.
According to the ancient traditions, the Apostles determined by lot
to what countries they should go : Peter went to Antioch ; James
the Great remained in Jerusalem and the neighbourhood; Philip
went to Phrygia ; John to Ephesus ; Thomas to Parthia and Judea ;
Andrew to Scythia ; Bartholomew to India and Judea. The Parting
of the Apostles is a beautiful subject, of which I have met with but
few examples ; one is a woodcut after Titian. The Mission of the
Apostles I remember to have seen by Bissoni over an altar in the
Santa Giustina at Padua ; they are preparing to depart ; one reads
from a book ; another looses his shoes from his feet, in allusion to
the text, ' Take neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes ; ' several are
bidding adieu to the Virgin. This picture struck me as dramatic ;
its merits otherwise I do not remember.

We have next * The Twelve Baptisms.' ^ In the upper compartment
Christ is standing in a majestic attitude, and on each side are six
Apostles, all alike, and in white garments. The inscription above is
in Greek : ' Go ye, and preach the Gospel to all nations.' Below in
twelve smaller compartments, each of the Apostles is seen baptizing a
convert : an attendant, in white garments, stands by each font, holding
a napkin. One of the converts and his attendant are black, denoting

1 Vatican, Sala del Pozzo. ^ Vatican.

3 Greek MS., ninth century. Paris, Bibl. du Roi, No. 610.

1S4 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

clearly the chamberlain of the Queen of Ethiopia. This is a very
uncommon subject. .

And, lastly, we have ^ The Twelve Martyrdoms.' This is a more
frequent series, in pictures and in prints, and occurs in a set of large
fresco compositions in the church of San Nereo e Sant' Achilleo at
Rome. In such representations the usual treatment is as follows : —
1. St. Peter is crucified with his head downwards. 2. St. Andrew,
bound on a transverse cross. 3. St. James Major, beheaded with a
sword. 4. St. John, in a caldron of boiling oil. 5. St. Philip,
bound on a cross in the form of a T. 6. St. Bartholomew, flayed.
7. St. Thomas, pierced with a spear. 8. St. Matthew, killed with a
sword. 9. St. James Minor, struck down with a club. 10. St.
Simon and St. Jude together : one is killed with a sword, the other
with a club. 11. St. Matthias has his head cloven by a halbert. 12.
St. Paul is beheaded.^

The authority for many of these martyrdoms is wholly apocryphal/
and they sometimes vary ; but this is the usual mode of representation
in Western Art. In early Greek Art a series of the Deaths of the
Apostles often occurs, but they do not all suffer martyrdom ; and the
subject of St. John in the caldron of boiling oil, so famous in the
Latin Church, is, I believe, unknown, or, at least, so rare, that I
have not found it in genuine Byzantine Art.

The most ancient series I have met with (in a Greek MS. of the
ninth century) shows us five Apostles crucified : St. Peter and St. Philip
with the head downwards ; St. Andrew on the transverse cross, as
usual ; St. Simon and St. Bartholomew, in the same manner as our
Saviour. St. Thomas is pierced by a lance ; and St. John is buried,
and then raised by angels, according to the legend. The same series,
similarly treated, ornamented the doors of the old Basilica of St. Paul,
executed by Greek artists of the tenth century.^

Wherever the Apostles appear as a series, we expect, of course, some

' A set of martyrdoms is in the Frankfort Museum ; another is mentioned in Bartsch,
vjii. 22.

2 Eusebius says that all the Apostles suffered martyrdom ; but this is not borne out by
any ancient testimony. — Lardntr's Cred. of Gospel Hist. vol. viii. p. 81.

^ They were fortunately engraved for D'Agincourt's Histoire de I' Arty before they were
destroyed by fire.

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. 185

degree of discriminatiDg propriety of character in each face and figure.
We seek it when they merely form a part of the general scheme of
significant decoration in the architectural arrangement of a place of
worship ; we seek it with more reason when they stand before us as a
series of devotional representations ; and still more when, as actors in
some particular scene, they are supposed to be animated by sentiments
called forth by the occasion, and modified by the individual character.
By what test shall we try the truth and propriety of such representa-
tions ? We ought to know both what to require from the artist, and
on what grounds to require it, before we can rest satisfied.

In the Gospel histories the Apostles are consistently and beauti-
fully distinguished in temper and bearing. Their characters, whether
exhibited at full length, or merely touched upon, are sustained with
dramatic truth. The mediaeval legends, however wild, are, as far as
character goes, in harmony with these scriptural portraits, and fill up
the outline given. It becomes therefore a really interesting specula-
tion to observe, how far this variety of characteristic expression has
been carried out in the early types, how far attended to, or neglected,
by the great painters, since the revival of Art.

St. Peter and St. Paul.

Lat. SS. Petrus et Paulus. Ital. San Pietro or Piero, San Paolo. Fi\ S. Pierre, S. Paul.
Spa. San Pedro, San Pablo. (June 29 and 30.)

I HAVE already observed, that, as apostles and preachers of the Word,
St. Peter and St. Paul take the first place. Even during their lives, a
superiority was accorded to them ; and this superiority, as the acknow-
ledged heads and founders of the Christian Church, under Christ, has
been allowed down to the present time. The precedence is by common
consent given to St. Peter ; but they are held to be equal in faith, in
merit, and in sanctity.

The early Christian Church was always considered under two great
divisions : the church of the converted Jews, and the church of the
Gentiles. The first was represented by St. Peter, the second by St.

VOL. I. A A

186

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

St. Paul.

St. Peter.

(Crivelli )

Paul. Standing together in this mutual relation, they represent the
universal Church of Christ ; hence in works of Art they are seldom
separated, and are indispensable in all ecclesiastical decoration. Their
proper place is on each side of the Saviour, or of the Virgin throned ;
or on each side of the altar ; or on each side of the arch over the choir.
In any case, where they stand together, not merely as Apostles, but
Founders, their place is next after the Evangelists and the Prophets.
Thus seen almost everywhere in companionship, it becomes neces-
sary to distinguish them from each other; for St. Peter does not

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL.

187

always bear his keys, nor St. Paul his sword. In the earliest examples,
these attributes are wholly omitted; yet I scarcely know any in-
stance in which a distinct type of head has not been more or less
attended to.

The ancient Greek type of the head
of St. Peter, ' the Pilot of the Galilean

neFoC'OKopv'tciioc

uGt4<n09Vr'W(N

Lake,' is so strongly characterised as to
have the air of a portrait. It is either
taken from the description of Nicephorus,
so often quoted, or his description is taken
from some very ancient representation :
it certainly harmonises with all our pre-
conceived notions of St. Peter's tempera-
ment and character. He is a robust old
man, with a broad forehead, and rather
coarse features, an open undaunted coun-
tenance, short grey hair, and short thick
beard, curled, and of a silvery white: ac-
cording to the descriptive portrait of
Nicephorus, he had red weak eyes, — a
peculiarity which it has not been thought
necessary to preserve in his effigies. In
some early pictures he is bald on the top
of the head, and the hair grows thick
around in a circle, somewhat like the
priestly tonsure ; and in some examples
this tonsure has the form of a triple row
of curls close to the head, a kind of tiara.
A curious exception to this predominant,
almost universal, type is to be found in
Anglo-Saxon Art,^ where St. Peter is
always beardless, and wears the ton-
sure ; so that but for the keys, suspended to a ring on his finger,
one might take him for an elderly monk. It is a tradition
that the Gentiles shaved the head of St. Peter in order to make

67 St. Peter.

(Greek type, eleventh century.)

^ St. Guthlac's Book. Ethel wold's Benedictional.

188

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

him an object of derision, and that this is the origin of the priestly
tonsure.

The dress of St. Peter in the mosaics and Greek pictures is a blue
tunic, with white drapery thrown over it, but in general the proper
colours are a blue or green tunic with yellow drapery. On the early
sarcophagi, and in the most ancient church mosaics, he bears merely

a scroll or book, and, except in the character
of the head, he is exactly like St. Paul ; a
little later we find him with the cross in one
hand, and the Gospel in the other. The keys
in his hand appear as his peculiar attribute
about the eighth century. I have seen him
with one great key, but in general he carries
two keys, one of gold and one of silver, to
absolve and to bind ; or, according to another
interpretation, one is of gold, and one of
iroUj opening the gates of heaven and hell :
occasionally, but rarely, he has a third key,
ex|)ressing the dominion over heaven, and
earth, and hell.^

St. Paul presents a striking contrast to
St. Peter, in features as in character. There
must have existed effigies of him in very
early times, for St. Augustine says that a certain Marcellina, living
in the second century, preserved in her Lararium, among her house-
hold gods, ^ the images of Homer, Pythagoras, Jesus Christ, and
Paul the apostle.' Chrysostom alludes to a portrait of Paul which
hung in his chamber, but unfortunately he does not describe it. The
earliest allusion to the personal appearance of St. Paul occurs in
Lucian, where he is styled, in a tone of mocking disparagement, ' the
bald-headed Galilean with a hook-nose.' The description given by
Nicephorus, founded, we may presume, on tradition and on the existing
portraits, has been the authority followed in the early representations.
According to the ancient tradition, Paul was a man of small and
meagre stature, with an aquiline nose, a high forehead, and sparkling

St Peter with one Key.
(Taddeo Gaddi.)

^ As in the mosaic on the tomb of Otho II. (Lateran Mus.)

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL.

of the Spirit, which is the word of God '
(Ephes. vi. 17). The life of St. Paul, after
his conversion, was, as we know, one long
spiritual combat : — -^ perplexed, hut not in
despair ; cast down, but not destroyed.'

These traditional characteristic types of
the features and persons of the two greatest
apostles were long adhered to. We find
them most strictly follow^ed in the old Greek
mosaics, in the early Christian sculpture,
and the early pictures ; in all which the
sturdy dignity and broad rustic features of
St. Peter, and the elegant contemplative
head of St. Paul, who looks like a Greek
philosopher, form a most interesting and
suggestive contrast. But, in later times,
the old types, particularly in the head of St.
Paul, were neglected and degraded. The
best painters took care not to deviate wholly from the square head
and short grey beard of St. Peter ; but, from the time of Sixtus lY.,
we find substituted for the head of St. Paul an arbitrary representa-
tion, which varied according to the model chosen by the artist —
which was sometimes a Roman porter or a German boor ; sometimes
the antique Jupiter or the bust of a Greek rhetorician.

oa

eyes. In the Greek type the face is long and oval, the nose aquiline,
the forehead high and bald, the hair brown, the beard lono^, flowino-,
and pointed, and of a dark brown (in the Greek formula it is said
that his beard should be greyish — I recollect
no instance of St. Paul with a grey beard) ;
his dress is like St. Peter's, a blue tunic and
white mantle : he has a book or scroll in one
hand, sometimes twelve rolls, which desig-
nate his epistles. He bears the sword, his
attribute in a double sense ; it signifies the
manner of his martyrdom, and it is emble-
matical of the good fight fought by the
faithful Christian, armed with ' the sword

navAoc-ssKv

St. Paul.
(Greek type, eleventh century.)

190 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

I shall now give some examples, in chronological order, of the two
great Apostles represented together, as Founders of the Church.

On the early sarcophagi (from a.d. 321 to 400), St. Peter and St.
Paul stand on each side of the Saviour. The former bears a cross,
and is generally on the left hand of Christ. The cross given to Peter,
and often set with jewels, is supposed to refer to the passage in St.
John, xxi. 19, ^ Signifying by what death he should die : ' but it may
surely bear another interpretation, i.e., the spirit of Christianity trans-
mitted to all nations by the first and greatest of the Apostles. St.
Paul carries a roll of writing; he has a very high bald forehead: in
other respects the two Apostles are not particularly discriminated ;
they wear the classical costume.^ Similar figures of Peter and Paul
occur on the ancient glass drinking- vessels and lamps preserved in
the Vatican; but the workmanship is so rude, that they are merely
curiosities, and cannot be cited as authorities.

Mosaic (Home, a.d. 443) in Santa Maria Maggiore, over the arch
which separates the sanctuary from the nave. We have in the centre
a throne, on which lies the roll, sealed with seven seals ; above the
throne rises a cross set with precious stones ; on each side of the
throne, St. Peter and St. Paul; they have no attributes, are habited
in classical draperies, and the whole representation is strictly antique
in style, without a trace of any of the characteristics of Mediasval
Art. This is the oldest representation I have met with next to those
on the sarcophagi.

Mosaic (Rome, 6th century) in the church of Santa Sabina on the
interior of the arch over the door. We find on one side St. Peter, on
the other St. Paul. Under St. Peter stands a graceful female figure,
veiled, and inscribed Ecclesiaex circumcisione ; under St. Paul, a female
figure, crowned, and inscribed Ecclesia ex gentibus.

Mosaic (Rome, a.d. 526) in St. Cosmo and St. Damian, on the
vault of the apsis. Christ stands in the centre, sustained by clouds ;
His right hand is raised in the attitude of one who exhorts (not
blessing, as is the usual manner) ; the left hand holds the book of
life ; at His feet flows the river Jordan, the symbol of Baptism. On
each side, but lower down and much smaller in size, stand St. Peter
and St. Paul ; they seem to present St. Cosmo and St. Damian to

^ Bottari, Tab. xxv.

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL.

191

the Saviour. Beyond these again, on either side, stand St. Theodore
and the pope (Felix I.) who dedicated the church. Palm-trees, and
a Phoenix crowned with a starry glory, emhlems of Victory and Im-
mortality, close this majestic and significant composition on each
side. Here St. Peter and St. Paul are dignified figures, in which the
Greek type is strongly characterised ; they wear long white mantles,
and have no attributes.

Mosaic (Milan, 9th centmy), in Sant' Ambrogio. Christ enthroned
presents the Gospel to St. Paul, and the two keys to St. Peter.

Mosaic (a.d. 936) on the tomb of Otho II. St. Peter and St. Paul
together, rather more than half length, and above life size. St. Peter
has three keys, suspended on a ring ; St. Paul, the book and sword.
The original mosaic is preserved in the Vatican, and a copy is in the
Lateran. This relic is, as a document, invaluable.

Mosaic (a.d. 1216-1227), in the apsis of the old basilica of St.
Paul. Christ is seated on a throne, with the cruciform glory and His

name I C. X C. : the right hand gives the benediction in the Greek
form ; He holds in His left an open book, inscribed venite benedicti
PATRis MEi PERCiPiTE REGNUM. (Matt. XXV. 34.) On the left, St.
Peter with his right hand raised to Christ, and an open scroll in his
left hand, inscribed TU es christus filius dei vivi. On the other
side of Christ, St. Paul ; his right hand on his breast, and in his left
a scroll with these words, in nomine jesu omne genu flectatur

CCELESTIUM TERRESTRIUM ET INFERNORUM. (Phil. xi. 10.) Beyoud

St. Peter stands his brother St. Andrew; and beyond St. Paul his
favourite disciple Luke. At the foot of the throne kneels a diminu-
tive figure of the Pope, Honorius III., by whom the mosaic was dedi-
cated. Palm-trees close the composition on each side ; underneath
runs the frieze of the Twelve Apostles, described at p. 173.

Mosaic (12th century) in the Cathedral of Monreale at Palermo.
St. Peter and St. Paul are seated on splendid thrones on each side
of the tribune; St. Peter holds in his left hand a book, and the right,

102 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

which gives the benediction, holds also the two keys : over his head
is inscribed, sanctus petrus princeps apostolorum cui tradit^ sunt
CLAVES REGNi ccELORUM. St. Paul holds the sword with the point
upwards like a sceptre, and the book as usual : the intellectual Greek
character of the head is strongly discriminated. The inscription is,

SAKCTUS PAULUS PR^DICATOR VERITATIS ET DOCTOR GENTIUM GENTI.

Among the rich and curious bas-reliefs in front of the church of
St. Trophime at Aries, we have St. Peter and St. Paul seated together
receiving the souls of the just. Each has two souls in his lap, and
the Archangel Michael is bringing another.

In pictures, their proper place, as I have observed, is on each side
of the throne of the Redeemer, or on each side of the Virgin and
Child : sometimes they are standing together, or reading in the
same book.

This must suffice for the devotional treatment of St. Peter and St.
Paul, when represented as joint founders and patrons of the universal
Christian Church. Before I notice those historical subjects in which
they appear together, I have to say a few words of the manner in
which they are treated separately and distinctly. And first of St.
Peter.

The various events of the life of St. Peter are recorded in the Gospels
and the Acts so minutely, that they may be presumed to be familiar
10 all readers. From these we may deduce his character, remarkable
for fervour and energy rather than sustained power. His traditional
and legendary history is full of incidents, miracles, and wonderful
and picturesque passages. His importance and popularity, considered
as Prince of the Apostles and Founder of the Church of Rome, have
extended with the influence of that powerful Church of which he is
the head and representative, and multiplied, almost to infinitude,
pictures and effigies of him in his individual character, as well as
historical representations of his life and actions, wherever his
paramount dignity is admitted.

It struck me, when wandering over the grand old churches of
Ravenna, where the ecclesiastical mosaics are the most ancient that
exist, and still in wonderful preservation, that St. Peter and St. Paul

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. 193

do not often appear, at least are in no respect distinguished from the
other apostles. Ravenna, in the fifth century, did not look to Rome
for her saints. On the other hand, among the earliest of the Roman
mosaics, St. Peter is sometimes found sustaining the throne of Christ,
without his companion St. Paul ; as in S. Maria-in-Trastevere, S.
Maria Kuova, and others. At Rome, St. Peter is the Saint, the San-
tissimo. The secession of the Protestant Church dimmed his glory
as Prince of the Apostles and universal Saint ; he fell into a kind
of disrepute as identified with the See of Rome, which exposed his
effigies, in England and Scotland particularly, to a sweeping de-
struction. Those were disputatious days ; and Peter, the afi'ec-
tionate, enthusiastic, devoted, but somewhat rash apostle, veiled his
head to the intellectual, intrepid, subtle philosopher Paul.

' Let us now see how Art has placed before us the sturdy Prince
of the Apostles.

I have already mentioned the characteristic type which belongs
to him, and his prevalent attributes — the key, the cross, the book.
When he figures among the disciples in the Gospel stories, he some-
times holds the fish as the symbol of his original vocation : if the fish
be given to him in single devotional figures, it signifies also Chris-
tianity, or the rite of Baptism.

The figures of St. Peter standing, as Apostle and Patron Saint,
with book and keys, are of such perpetual occurrence as to defy all
attempts to particularise them, and so familiar as to need no further
illustration.^

Representations of him in his peculiar character of Head and
Founder of the Roman Church, and first universal bishop, are less
common. He is seated on a throne ; one hand is raised in the act of
benediction; in the other he holds the keys, and sometimes a book or
scroll, inscribed with the text, in Latin, * Thou art Peter, and on this
rock have I built my Church.' This subject of the throned St. Peter

1 One of the finest I have ever seen is the * Saint Pierre au Donateur,' by Gaudenzio
Ferrari ; holding his keys (both of gold), he presents a kneeling votary, a man of middle
age, who probably bore his name. The head of St. Peter is very characteristic, and has an
energetic pleading expression, almost demanding what he requires for his votary. The
whole picture i^ extremely fine. {Turin Gallery^ No. 19.)

VOL. I. B B

194

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

is very frequent in the older schools. The well-known picture by
Giotto, painted for Cardinal Stefan eschi, now in the sacristy of the
Vatican, is very fine, simple, and solemn. In a picture by Cima da
Conegliano,^ St. Peter is not only throned, but wears the triple tiara
as Pope; the countenance is particularly earnest, fervent, almost
fiery in expression : the keys lie at his feet ; on one side stands St.
John the Baptist, on the other St. Paul.

As a deviation from the usual form
of this subject, I must mention an old
bas-relief, full of character, and signi-
ficantly appropriate to its locality —
the church of San Pietro-in-Yincoli,
at Rome. St. Peter, enthroned, holds
in one hand the keys and the Gospel;
with the other he presents his chains
to a kneeling angel; this unusual
treatment is very poetical and sug-
gestive.

There are standing figures of St.
Peter wearing the papal tiara, and
brandishing his keys, — as in a picture
by Cola dell' Amatrice (70). And I
should think Milton had some such
picture in his remembrance whe,n he
painted his St. Peter : —

Last came and last did go
The pilot of the Galilean Lake ;
Two massy keys he bore of metals twain,
(The golden opes, the iron shuts amain),
He shook his mitred locks, and stern bespake.

When, in devotional pictures, St.
Peter is accompanied by another
apostle with no distinctive attributes,
we may suppose it to be St. Mark, who was his interpreter, com-
panion, and amanuensis at Rome. According to an early tradition,
the Gospel of St. Mark was written down from the dictation of St.

• 1 Milan, Brera (No. 189).

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. 195

Peter.^ In a miniature frontispiece to St. Mark's Gospel, the evan-
gelist is seated writing, and St. Peter stands opposite, as if dictat-
ing. In a picture by Angelico,^ Peter is preaching from a pulpit
to a crowd of people : Mark, seated on one side, is diligently
taking down his words. In a very fine picture by Bonvicino^
they stand together; St. Peter is reading from a book; St. Mark
holds a scroll and inkhorn ; he is submitting to St. Peter the Gospel
he has just penned, and which was afterwards confirmed by the
apostle.

Lastly, a magnificent "Venetian picture* represents St. Peter throned
as bishop, with an earnest and rather stern countenance ; he holds a
book in his hand ; two angels with musical instruments are seated
on the steps of his throne: on his right hand stand John the Baptist,
and St. Jerome as cardinal; on his left St. Ambrose; while St. Mark
bends over a book, as if reading to this majestic auditory.

Those scenes and incidents related in the Gospels in which St. Peter
is a principal or conspicuous figure, I shall enlarge upon when treat-
ing of the life of Christ, and will only indicate a few of them here,
as illustrating the manner in which St. Peter is introduced and
treated in such subjects.

We have, first, the Calling of Peter and Andrew in a picture
by Basaiti,^ where the two brothers are kneeling at the feet of the
Saviour ; the fishing boats and the Lake of Gennesareth in the back-
ground: and in the beautiful fresco by Ghirlandajo in the Sistine
Chapel, where a number of contemporary personages are introduced
as spectators. St. Andrew presenting St. Peter to our Saviour (as
in a picture by Cavalucci, in the Vatican), is another version of
the same subject ; or St. Andrew is seen at the feet of Christ, while
St. Peter is sitting on the edge of the boat, or descending from it in
haste.

1 ' What St. Clement says is to this purpose : that St. Peter's hearers at Rome were
desirous of having his sermons writ down for their use ; that they made their request to
Mark to leave them a written memorial of the doctrine they had received by word of
mouth ; that they did not desist from their entreaties till they had prevailed upon him ;
and St. Peter confirmed that writing by his authority, that it might be read in the
churches.' — Laudner, Cred., vol. i. p. 250.

2F1. Gal. 3 Brera, Milan. * Gian Bellini : Venice. S. M. de' Frari. ^ Vienna GaL

\06 SACRED AND LEGEKDART ART.

^ Christ Walking on the Sea ' is a familiar and picturesque subject,
not to be mistaken. The most ancient and most celebrated represen-
tation is Giotto's mosaic (a.d. 1298), now placed in the portico of St.
Peter's, over the arch opposite to the principal door. The sentiment
in the composition of this subject is, generally, ' Lord, help me ; or I
perish : ' St. Peter is sinking, and Christ is stretching out His hand
to save him. It is considered as a type of the Church in danger,
assailed by enemies, and saved by the miraculous interposition
of the Redeemer ; and in this sense must the frequent representations
in churches be understood.

In the ' Miraculous Draught of Fishes,' St. Peter is usually on
his knees looking up with awe and gratitude : — ' Depart from me, 0
Lord! for I am a sinful man.' The composition of Raphael (the
cartoon at Hampton Court) is just what we should seek for in Rapha-^l,
a masterpiece of dramatic expression, — the significant, the poetical,
the miraculous predominating. The composition of Rubens, at
Malines, which deserves the next place, should be looked at in
contrast, as an instance of the picturesque and vigorous treatment
equally characteristic of the painter ; — all life and reality, even to
the glittering fish which tumble in the net. ' St. Peter finding the
tribute money ' is a subject I have seldom met with; the motif is
simple, and not to be mistaken.

In all the scenes of the life of our Saviour in which the Apostles
are assembled, — in the Transfiguration, in the Last Supper, in the
' Washing the Feet of the Disciples,' in the scene of the agony and
the betrayal of Christ, — St. Peter is introduced as a more or less
prominent figure, but always to be distinguished from the other
Apostles. In the third of these subjects, the washing of the feet, St.
Peter generally looks up at Christ with an expression of humble
expostulation, his hands on his head ; the sentiment is — ' Not my
feet only, but my hands and my head.'

In the scene of the betrayal of Christ, St. Peter cutting off the ear
of Malchus is sometimes a too prominent group ; and I remember
an old German print in which St. Peter, having cut off the ear, our
Lord bends down to replace it.^

* St. Peter Denying the Saviour ' is always one of the subjects in

1 Eartsch. vi. 92.

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL.

197

the series of the Passion of Christ. It occurs frequently on the
ancient sarcophagi as the symbol of repentance, and is treated with
classical and sculptural simplicity, the cock being always introduced,
as in the illustration (71) : it is here to be understood as a general
emblem of human weakness and repentance. As an action separately,
or as one of the series of the life and actions of Peter, it has not been
often painted ; it seems to have been avoided in general by the early
Italian painters as derogatory to the character and dignity of the
A})Ostle. The only examples I can recollect are in the later Italian

Repentance of Peter. ^Sarcophagus, third century.)

and Flemish schools. Teniers has adopted it as a vehicle for a guard-
room scene ; soldiers playing at cards, bright armour, &c. Rem-
brandt has taken it as a vehicle for a fine artificial light; and, for the
same reason, the Caravaggio school delighted in it. The maiden,
whose name in the old traditions is Balilla, is always introduced with
a look and gesture of reproach, and the cock is often perched in the
background.

' Christ turned and looked upon Peter : ' of this beautiful subject,
worthy of Raphael himself, I can remember no instance.

The ^ Repentance of Peter ' is a subject seldom treated in the earlier

198 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

schools of Italy, but frequently by the later painters, and particularly
by the Bologna school ; in some instances most beautifully. It was
a subject peculiarly suited to the genius of Guercino, who excelled in
the expression of profound rather than elevated feeling.

There is a manner of representing the repentance of Peter which
seems peculiar to Spanish Art, and is more ideal than is usual with
that school. Christ is bound to a column and crowned with thorns ;
St. Peter kneels before Him in an attitude of the deepest anguish and
humiliation, and appears to be supplicating forgiveness. Except in
the Spanish school, I have never met with this treatment. The little
picture by Murillo -^ is an exquisite example ; and in the Spanish
Gallery are two others, by Pedro de Cordova and Juan Juanes : — in
the former, St. Peter holds a pocket-handkerchief with which he has
been wiping his eyes, and the cock is perched on the column to which
our Saviour is bound.

Another ideal treatment we find in a picture by Guercino ; St.
Peter is weeping bitterly, and opposite to him the Virgin is seated
in motionless grief.

Half-length figures of St. Peter looking up with an expression of
repentant sorrow, and wringing his hands, are of frequent occurrence,
more especially in the later followers of the Bologna and Neapolitan
schools of the seventeenth century : Pibera, Lanfranco, Oaravaggio,
and Valentin. In most of these instances, the total absence of ideal
or elevated sentiment is striking ; — any old bearded beggar out of the
streets, who could cast up his eyes and look pathetic, served as a
model.

I recollect no picture of the Crucifixion in which St. Peter is present.

' The Delivery of the Keys to Peter ' and ^ The Charge to Peter '
(Feed my sheep), either in separate pictures or combined into one
subject, have been, of course, favourite themes in a Church which
founds its authority on these particular circumstances. The bas-
relief over the principal door of St. Peter's at Rome represents the
two themes in one : Christ delivers the keys to Peter, and the sheep
are standing by. In the panels of the bronze doors beneath (a.d

^ ' Le Christ ^ la Colonne.' Louvre, No. 550.

ST. PETER A:«D ST. PAUL. \00

1431), we have the chain of thought and incident continued ; Peter
delivers the emblematical keys to Pope Eugenius lY.

It is curious that, while the repentance of Peter is a frequent subject
on the sarcophagi of the fourth century, the delivery of the keys to
Peter occurs but once. Christ, as a beardless youth, presents to
Peter two keys laid crosswise one over the other. Peter, in w^hose
head the traditional type is most distinctly marked, has thrown his
pallium over his outstretched hands, for, according to the antique
ceremonial, of which the early sculpture and mosaics afford us so
many examples, things consecrated could only be touched with covered
hands. This singular example is engraved in Bottari.^ An example
of beautiful and solemn treatment in painting is Perugino's fresco
in the Sistine Chapel. It contains twenty-one figures ; the concep-
tion is quite ideal, the composition regular even to formality, yet
striking and dramatic. In the centre, Peter, kneeling on one knee,
receives the keys from the hand of the Saviour ; the apostles and
disciples are arranged on each side behind Christ and St. Peter ; in
the background is the rebuilding of the Temple ; — a double allegory:
' Destroy this temple, I will build it up in three days : ' and also,
perhaps, alluding to the building of the chapel by Sixtus TV,

In Raphael's cartoon^ the scene is an open plain: Christ stands
on the right ; in front, St. Peter kneels, with the keys in his hand ;
Christ extends one hand to Peter, and with the other points to a
flock of sheep in the background. The introduction of the sheep into
this subject has been criticised as at once too literal and too alle-
gorical,— a too literal transcript of the words, a too allegorical version
of the meaning ; but I do not see how the words of our Saviour could
have been otherwise rendered in painting, which must speak to us
through sensible objects. The other apostles standing behind Peter
show in each countenance the different manner in which they are
affected by the words of the Saviour.

By Gian Bellini : a beautiful picture : ^ St. Peter kneeling, half-
length, receives the keys from Jesus Christ, seated on a throne.
Behind St. Peter stand the three Christian Graces, Faith, Hope, and
Charity. Poussin has taken this subject in his series of the Seven
Sacraments,* to represent the sacrament of Ordination. In this

^ Tab. xxi. 2 Hampton Court. =* Madrid Gal., No. 114. * Bridgewater Gal.

200 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

instance again, the two themes are united; and we must also re-
member, that the allegorical representation of the disciples and
followers of Christ as sheep looking up to be fed is consecrated by
the practice of the earliest schools of Christian Art. Rubens has
rendered the subject very simplj^, in a picture containing only the
two figures, Christ and St. Peter ; ^ and again with five figures, less
good.^ Numerous other examples might be given ; but the subject is
one that, however treated, cannot be easily mistaken.

A very ideal version of this subject is where St. Peter kneels at the
feet of the Madonna, and the Infant Christ, bending from her lap,
presents the keys to him ; as in a singularly fine and large composition
by Crivelli,^ and in another by Andrea Salaino. Another, very beau-
tiful and curious, is in the possession of Mr Bromley of Wootten.*

After the ascension of our Saviour, the personal history of St. Peter
is mingled first with that of St. John, and afterwards with that of
St. Paul.

^ Peter and John healing the lame man at the gate called Beautiful,*
is the subject of one of the finest of the cartoons at Hampton Court.
Perin del Yaga, Niccolo Poussin, and others less renowned, have also
treated it; it is susceptible of much contrast and dramatic efiect.

^ The sick are brought out and placed in the shadow of Peter and
John that they may be healed,' by Masaccio.*'^

' Peter preaching to the Early Converts : ' the two most beautiful
compositions I have seen^ are the simple group of Masaccio; and
another by Le Sueur, full of variety and sentiment.

* Peter and John communicate the Holy Ghost by laying their hands
on the Disciples,' by Yasari.^ I do not well remember this picture.

The Yision of Peter : three angels sustain the curtain or sheet
which contains the various forbidden animals, as pigs, rabbits, &c.
(as in a print after Guercino).

* Peter baptizes the Centurion ' (very appropriately placed in the

1 Cathedral at Malines. * Gal. of the Hague.

' This picture, formerly in the Brera, is now in England, in the gallery of Lord Ward.
It is the finest and most characteristic specimen of the master I have ever seen.

* It is signed M^dula, and attributed to Giulio della Mendula; a painter (eicept
tlirough this picture) unknown to me.

* Braucacci Chapel, Florence. * Berlin Gal., No. 313.

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. JQI

baptistery of tlie Vatican). St. Peter meets the Centurion ; he blesses
the family of the Centurion. All commonplace versions of very in-
teresting and picturesque subjects.

^ The Death of Ananias.' E-aphael's cartoon of this awful scene is
a masterpiece of dramatic and scenic power ; never was a story more
admirably and completely told in painting. Those who had to deal
with the same subject, as if to avoid a too close comparison with his
unapproachable excellence, have chosen the death of Sapphira as the
motif: as, for example, Niccolo Poussin.-^

^ Dorcas or Tabitha Restored to Life.' One of the finest and most
effective of Guercino's pictures, now in the Palazzo Pitti : the simple
dignity of the apostle, and the look of sick amazement in the face of
the woman restored to consciousness, show how strong Guercino could
be when he had to deal with natural emotions of no elevated kind.
The same subject, by Costanzi, is among the great mosaics in St.
Peter's. ' The Death of Dorcas,' by Le Sueur, is a beautiful composi-
tion. She lies extended on a couch ; St. Peter and two other apostles
approach the foot of it : the poor widows, weeping, show to St. Peter
the garments which Dorcas had made for them (Acts ix. 39).

The imprisonment of Peter, and his deliverance by the Angel, were
incidents so important, and offer such obvious points of dramatic
effect, that they have been treated in every possible variety of style
and sentiment, from the simple formality of the early mosaics, where
the two figures — Peter sitting on a stool, leaning his head on his hand,
and the Angel at his side — express the story like a vision,^ down to
the scenic and architectural compositions of Steenwick, where, amid
a vast perspective of gloomy vaults and pillars, a diminutive St. Peter,
with an Angel or a sentinel placed somewhere in the foreground,
just serves to give the picture a name.^

Some examples of this subject are of great celebrity.

Masaccio, in the frescoes of the Brancacci Chapel, has represented
Peter in prison looking through his grated window, and Paul outside
communing with him. (The noble figure of St. Paul in this fresco

^ Louvre, No. 685.

2 As in the Greek mosaics in the Cathedral of Monreale, near Palermo.

^ Several such pictures are in the royal collections at Windsor and Hampton Court.

VOL. I. 0 0

202 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

was imitated by Kapliael in the ' St. Paul preachiog at Athens.') In
the next compartment of the series, Masaccio has given us the Angel
leading forth Peter, while the guard sleeps at the door : lie sleeps as
one oppressed with an unnatural sleep. Raphael's fresco in the
Vatican is not one of his best, bat he has seized on the obvious point
of effect, both as to light and grouping ; and we have three separate
moments of the same incident, which yet combine most happily into
one grand scene. Thus in the centre, over the window, we see through
a grating the interior of the prison, where St. Peter is sleeping between
two guards, who, leaning on their weapons, are sunk in a deep charmed
slumber ; ^ an angel, whose celestial radiance fills the dungeon with a
flood of light, is in the act of waking the apostle : on the right of the
spectator, the angel leads the apostle out of the prison ; two guards
are sleeping on the steps : on the left, the soldiers are roused from
sleep, and one with a lighted torch appears to be giving the alarm;
the crescent moon faintly illumines the background.

The deliverance of St. Peter has always been considered as figurative
of the deliverance of the Church ; and the two other frescoes of this
room, the Heliodorus and the Attila, bear the same interpretation.
It is worth while to compare this dramatic composition of Raphael
with others wherein the story is merely a vehicle for artificial effects
of light, as in a picture by Gerard Honthorst ; or treated like a super-
natural vision, as by that poet, Rembrandt.

Those historical subjects in which St. Peter and St. Paul figure
together will be noticed in the life of St. Paul.

I come now to the legendary stories connected with St. Peter ; — an
inexhaustible source of popular and pictorial interest.

Peter was at Jerusalem as late as a.d. 62 ; then at Antioch ; also
in Babylon: according to the most ancient testimonies he was at
Rome about a.d. 63 ; but the tradition, that he resided as bishop in
the city of Rome for twenty-five years, first related by Jerome, seems

^ Moore makes a characteristic remark on this fresco ; he is amazed at the self-denial of
the painter who could cross this fine group with the black iron bars which represent the
piison.

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL.

questionable.^ Among the legendary incidents which marked his
sojourn in Rome, the first and the most important is the story of
Simon Magus.

Simon, a famous magician among the Jews, had astonished the
whole city of Jerusalem by his wonderful feats ; but his inventions
and sorceries were overcome by the real miracles of Peter, as the
Egyptian magi had been conquered by Aaron. He offered the apostles
money to buy the secret of their power, which Peter rejected with
indignation. St. Augustine tells us, as a characteristic trait of the
fiery-spirited apostle, that ' if he had fallen on the traitor Simon, he
would certainly have torn him to pieces with his teeth.' The magician,
vanquished by a superior power, flung his books into the Dead Sea,
broke his wand, and fied to Rome, where he became a great favourite
of the Emperor Claudius, and afterwards of Nero. Peter, bent on
counteracting the wdcked sorceries of Simon, followed him to Rome.
About two years after his arrival, he was joined there by the Apostle
Paul. Simon Magus having asserted that he was himself a god,
and could raise the dead, Peter and Paul rebuked his impiety,
and challenged him to a trial of skill in presence of the emperor.
The arts of the magician failed ; Peter and Paul restored the youth
to life : and on many other occasions Simon was vanquished and put
to shame by the miraculous power of the apostles. At length he
undertook to fly up to heaven in sight of the emperor and the people ;
and, crowned with laurel, and supported by demons, he flung himself
from a tower, and appeared for a while to float thus in the air : but
St. Peter falling on his knees, commanded the demons to let go
their hold, and Simon, precipitated to the ground, was dashed to
pieces.

This romantic legend, so popular in the Middle Ages, is founded
on some antique traditions not wholly unsupported by historical
testimony.

There can be no doubt that there existed in the first century a

* Some Protestant writers have set aside St. Peter's ministry at Rome, as altogether
apocryphal ; but Gieseler, an author by no means credulous, considers that the historical
evidence is in favour of the tradition {v. Text-book of Eccles. Hist. p. 53). This is the
more satisfactory, because, even to Protestants, it is not agreeable to be at Rome and to be
obliged to reject certain associations which add to the poetical, as well as to the religious,
interest of the place.

204 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

Simon, a Samaritan, a pretender to divine authority and supernatural
powers ; who, for a time, had many followers ; who stood in a certain
relation to Christianity ; and who may have held some opinions more
or less similar to those entertained by the most famous heretics of
the early ages, the Gnostics. Irenseus calls this Simon the father of
all heretics. ' All those,' he says, ' who in any way corrupt the
truth, or mar the preaching of the Church, are disciples and suc-
cessors of Simon, the Samaritan magician.' Simon gave himself forth
as a god, and carried about with him a beautiful woman named
Helena, whom he represented as the first conception of his — that is,
of the divine — mind, the symbol or manifestation of that portion of
spirituality which had become entangled in matter.^

The incidents of the story of Simon Magus have been often and
variously treated.

1. By Quintin Matsys : Peter refuses the offer of Simon Magus —
' Thy money perish with thee ! ' Here Peter wears the mitre of a
bishop : the picture is full of coarse but natural expression.

2. ' Peter and Paul Accused before Nero : ' the fresco in the Bran-
cacci Chapel, attributed by Kugler to Filippino Lippi, is certainly one
of the most perfect pieces of Art, as a dramatic composition, which
we have before the time of Raphael. To the right the emperor is
seated on his throne, on each side his ministers and attendants. The
countenances are finely varied; some of them animated by attention
and curiosity, others sunk in deep thought. The two apostles, and
their accuser Simon Magus, are in front. Simon, a magnificent
figure, who might serve for a Prospero, lays his hand on the vest of
Peter, as if to drag him forward; Paul stands aside with quiet dignity;
Peter, with a countenance full of energetic expression, points con-
temptuously to the broken idol at his feet. For the felicity and ani-
mation with which the story is told, and for propriety, grace, and
grandeur, Raphael has not often exceeded this picture.

3. Another of the series of the life of Peter in the Brancacci Chapel
is the resuscitation of the youth, who in the legend is called the
nephew of the emperor ; a composition of numerous figures. In the
centre stands St. Peter, and before him kneels the youth ; a skull and

^ He represented her as a resuscitation of the famous Helen of Troy, whicli is said to
have suggested to Goethe the resuscitation of Helena in the second part of * Faust.'

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. 205

a few bones are near him — a naive method of expressing his return
from death to life. The variety of expression in the countenances of
the assembled spectators is very fine. According to the custom of the
Florentine school at that time, many are portraits of distinguished
persons ; and, considering that the fresco was painted at a period most
interesting in the Florentine history (a.d. 1440), we have much reason
to regret that these can no longer be discriminated.

4. ' The Fall of Simon Magus ' is a favourite and picturesque
subject, often repeated. A most ancient and most curious version is
that on the walls of the Cathedral at Assisi, older than the time of
Giotto, and attributed to Giunta Pisano. (a.d. 1232.) On one side
is a pyramidical tower formed of wooden bars ; Peter and Paul are
kneeling in front ; the figure of the magician is seen floating in the
air and sustained by hideous demons ; — very dreamy, poetical, and
fanciful. In Mr Ottley's collection I saw a small ancient picture of
the same subject, very curious, attributed to Benozzo Gozzoli.
Raphael's composition in the Vatican has the simplicity of a classical
bas-relief — a style which does not appear suited to this romantic
legend. The picture by L. Caracci at Naples I have not seen. Over
one of the altars of St. Peter, we now see the great mosaic, after
Vanni's picture of this subject; a clever commonplace treatment:
the scene is an amphitheatre, the emperor above in his balcony;
Peter and Paul in front, invoking the name of Christ, and Simon
Magus tumbling headlong, forsaken by his demons; in the back-
ground sit the vestals. Battoni's great picture in the S. Maria
degli Angeli at Rome is considered his best production ; it is full
of well-studied academic drawing, but scenic and mannered.

The next subject in the order of events is styled the ' Domine, quo
VADis? ' After the burning of Rome, Nero threw upon the Christians
the accusation of having fired the city. This was the origin of the
first persecution, in which many perished by terrible and hitherto
unheard-of deaths. The Christian converts besought Peter not to
expose his life, which was dear and necessary to the well-being of all;
and at length he consented to depart from Rome. But as he fled
along the Appian Way, about two miles from the gates, he was met
by a vision of our Saviour travelling towards the city. Struck with

806 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

amazement, he exclaimed, ' Lord ! whither goest thou? ' to which the
Saviour, looking upon him with a mild sadness, replied, ' I go to Rome
to be crucified a second time,' and vanished. Peter, taking this for
a sign that he was to submit himself to the sufferings prepared for
him, immediately turned back and re-entered the city. Michael
Angelo's famous statue, now in the church of S. Maria-sopra-Minerva
at Rome, is supposed to represent Christ as He appeared to Peter on
this occasion ; and a cast or copy of it is in the little church of
* Domine, quo vadis ? ' erected on the spot sanctified by this myste-
rious meeting.

It is surprising that this most beautiful, picturesque, and, to my
fancy, sublime legend, has been so seldom treated ; and never, as it
appears to me, in a manner worthy of its capabilities and its high sig-
nificance. It is seldom that a whole story can be told by two figures,
and these two figures placed in such grand and dramatic contrast; —
Christ in His serene majesty and radiant with all the glory of beati-
tude, yet with an expression of gentle reproach ; the apostle at His
feet, arrested in his flight, amazed, and yet filled with a trembling-
joy; and for the background the wide Campagna or the towering walls
of imperial Rome ; — these are grand materials ; but the pictures I
have met with are all ineffective in conception. The best fall short
of the sublime ideal ; most of them are theatrical and commonplace.

Raphael has interpreted it in a style rather too classical for the
spirit of the legend ; with great simplicity and dignity, but as 2^fact^
rather than a vision conjured up by the stricken conscience and
tenderness of the affectionate apostle. The small picture by Annibal
Caracci in our National Gallery is a carefully-finished academical study
and nothing more, but may be referred to as a fair example of the
usual mode of treatment.

Peter returned to Rome, persisted in his appointed work, preaching
and baptizing; was seized with St. Paul and thrown into the Mamer-
tine dungeons under the Capitol. The two centurions who guarded
them. Processus and Martinian, and many of the criminals confined in
the same prison, were converted by the preaching of the apostle ; and
there being no water to baptize them, at the prayer of St. Peter a
fountain sprang up from the stone floor ; which may be seen at this
day.

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. ^07

' The Baptism of St. Processus and St. Martinian in the Dungeon/
by Trevisani, is in the baptistery of St. Peter's at Rome ; they after-
wards suffered for the faith, and were canonised. In the same church
is the scene of their martyrdom by Valentino ; they are seen bound
and stretched on a hurdle, the head of one to the feet of the other,
and thus beaten to death. The former picture — the Baptism — is
commonplace ; the latter, terrible for dark and effective expression ;
it is just one of those subjects in which the Caravaggio school
delighted.

A few days after their incarceration, St. Peter and St. Paul were
condemned to death. According to one tradition, St. Peter suffered
martyrdom in the Circus of Caligula at the foot of the Vatican , and was
crucified between two metae, i.e., the goals or terminse in the Circus,
round which the chariots turned in the race ; but, according to another
tradition, he was put to death in the court-yard of a barrack or military
station on the summit of Mons Janicula, where the church of San
Pietro in Montorio now stands ; that is, on an eminence above the
site of the Circus of Caligula. At his own request, and that his death
might be even more i)ainful and ignominious than that of his Divine
Master, he was crucified with his head downwards.

In the earliest representations I have met with,^ St. Peter is raised
on the cross with his head downwards, and wears a long shirt which
is fastened round his ankles. In the picture of Giotto,^ the local
circumstances, according to the first tradition, are carefully attended
to : we have the cross erected between the two metse, and about twenty
soldiers and attendants ; among them a woman who embraces the foot
of the cross, as the Magdalene embraces the cross of the Saviour.
Above are seen angels, who bear the soul of the mart3Ted saint in a
glory to heaven. Masaccio's composition^ is very simple ; the scene is
the court-yard of a militarj^ station (according to the second tradition).
Peter is already nailed upon a cross ; three executioners are in the
act of raising it with cords and a pulley to suspend it against a great
beam of wood ; there are several soldiers, but no women, present.

1 vs.. Vatican, No. 5409. 10th century. ' In the sacristy of the Vatican.

•^ In the Brancacci Cbapel at l^lorence.

20S

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

72 Crucifixion of St. Peter. (Giotto.)

In Guide's composition ^ there are only three figures, the apostle and
two executioners; it is celebrated as a work of Art, but it appeared
to me most ineffective. On the other hand, Eubens has gone into
the opposite extreme ; there are only three persons, the principal
figure filling nearly the whole of the canvas : it is full of vigour, truth,
and nature ; but the brutality of the two executioners, and the agony
of the aged saint, too coarsely and painfully literal. These simple
representations of the mere act or fact should be compared with the
fresco of Michael Angelo,^ in which the event is evolved into a grand
drama. Here the scene is evidently the summit of the Mons
Janiculum : in the midst of a crowd of soldiers and spectators, St.
Peter lies nailed to the cross, which a number of men are exerting
their utmost strength to raise from the ground.

The legend which makes St. Peter the keeper of the gate of

^ In the Gallery of the Vatican. ^ Vatican. Cappella Paolina.

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL.

:o9

Paradise, with power to grant or refuse admission, is founded on the
delivery of the keys to Peter. In most of the pictures which represent

73 From the fresco of Simone Memmi, Florence. (S. Maria Novella.)

the entrance of the blessed into Paradise or the New Jerusalem, Peter
stands with his keys near the gate. There is a beautiful example in
the great fresco of Simone Memmi in the chapel de' SpagnuoU at
Florence : St. Peter stands at the open portal with his great key, and
two angels crown with garlands the souls of the just as they enter
joyously hand in hand.

The legend of St. Petronilla, the daughter of St. Peter (in French-,
Sainte Pernelle), has never been popular as a subject of Art, and I
can remember no series of incidents from the life of St. Peter in which
she is introduced, except those in the Carmine at Florence. It is

VOL. 1. p D

21 G SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

apparently a Roman legend, and either unknown to the earliest
artists, or neglected by them. It is thus related : —

' The apostle Peter had a daughter born in lawful wedlock, who
accompanied him in his journey from the East. Being at Rome
with him, she fell sick of a grievous infirmity which deprived her of
the use of her limbs. And it happened that as the disciples were at
meat with him in his house, one said to him, "Master, how is it that
thou, who healest the infirmities of others, dost not heal thy daughter
Petronilla? " and St. Peter answered, " It is good for her to remain
sick : " but, that they might see the power that was in the word of
God, he commanded her to get up and serve them at table, which she
did ; and having done so, she lay down again helpless as before ;
but many years afterwards, being perfected by her long sufiering,
and praying fervently, she was healed. Petronilla was wonderfully
fair ; and Valerius Flaccus, a young and noble Roman, who
was a heathen, became enamoured of her beauty, and sought her for
his wife, and he being very powerful, she feared to refuse him ; she
therefore desired him to return in three days, and promised that
he should then carry her home. But she prayed earnestly to be
delivered from this peril ; and when Flaccus returned in three days
with great pomp to celebrate the marriage, he found her dead. The
company of nobles who attended him carried her to the grave, in
which they laid her, crowned with roses; and Flaccus lamented
greatly.'^

The legend places her death in the year 98, that is, 34 years after
the death of St. Peter ; but it would be in vain to attempt to reconcile
the dates and improbabilities of this story.

St. Peter raising Petronilla from her sick-bed is one of the subjects
by Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel. The scene of her entombment
is the subject of a once celebrated and colossal picture by Guercino:
the copy in mosaic is over the altar dedicated to her in St. Peter's :
in front, and in the lower part of the picture, she is just seen as they
are letting her down into the grave, crowned with roses ; behind
ytands Flaccus with a handkerchief in his hand, and a crowd of

^ V. II perfetto Legendario,

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL.

2U

spectators : in the upper part of the picture Petronilla is already in
Paradise, kneeling, in a rich dress, before the feet of Christ, having
exchanged an earthly for a heavenly bridegroom. This great picture
exhibits, in a surpassing degree, the merits and defects of Guercino:
it is effective, dramatic, deeply and forcibly coloured, and arrests
attention : on the other hand, it is coarse, crowded, vulgar in senti-
ment, and repugnant to our better taste. There is a standing figure
of Petronilla in the Duomo at Lucca, by Daniel di Volterra, very
fine.-^

The life of St. Peter, when represented as a series, generally com-
prises the following subjects, commencing with the first important
incident after the Ascension of Christ.

1. Peter and John heal the lame man at the Beautiful Gate. 2.
Peter heals the paralytic Eneas. 3. Peter raises Tabitha. 4. The
angel takes off the chains of Peter. 5. He follows the angel out of
the prison. 6. St. Peter and St. Paul meet at Rome. 7. Peter and
Paul before Nero are accused by Simon Magus, 8. The fall of Simon
Magus. 9. The crucifixion of St. Peter. This example is taken from
the series of mosaics in the Cathedral of Monreale, at Palermo.

The fine series of frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel at Florence is
differently arranged; thus : — 1. The tribute money found in the fish

^ There was an oratory in the church of the Franciscans at Varallo, in which they cele-
brated a yearly festival in honour of St. Petronilla. While Gaudenzio Ferrari was painting
there the series of frescoes in the chapel of the crucifixion on the Sacro Monte, he promised
to paint for the festival an effigy of the saint. The eve of the day arrived, and still it was
not begun : the people murmured, and reproached him, which he affected to treat jestingly ;
but he arose in the night, and with no other light than the beams of the full moon, executed
a charming figure of St. Petronilla, which still exists. She stands holding a book, a white
veil over her head, and a yellow mantle falling in rich folds : she has no distinctive
emblem. * Gaudenzio, che in una bella notte d' estate dipinse fra ruvide muraglie una
Santa tutta grazia e pudore mentre un pallido raggio di luna sbucato dalla frondosa
chioma d' albero dolcemeute gl' irradia la fronte calva e la barba rossiccia, presenta un
non so che di idpale e di romanzesco che veramente rapisce.'— Opere di Gaudenzio Ferrari,
No. 21. (Maggi, Tui-in. It is to be regretted that in this valuable work neither the pages
nor the plates are numbered.)

21*2 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

by St. Peter. 2. Peter preaching to the converts. 3. Peter baptizes
the converts. In this fresco, the youth, who has thrown off his
garments and is preparing for baptism, is famous as the first really
graceful and well-drawn undraped figure which had been produced
since the revival of Art. 4. Peter and John heal the cripple at the
Beautiful Gate, and Petronilla is raised from her bed. 5. Peter in
his prison is visited by Paul, 6. Peter delivered by the angel. 7,
The resuscitation of the dead youth. 8. The sick are laid in the way
of Peter and John, ^ that at the least the shadow of Peter passing
by might overshadow some of them/ 9. Peter and John distribute
alms ; a dead figure lies at the feet of the apostles, perhaps Ananias.
The situation of the fresco is very dark, so that it is difficult to dis-
tinguish the action and expression of the figures. 10. Peter and Paul
accused before Nero. 11. The crucifixion of Peter.

In St. Peter's at Rome, we have of course every scene from the
life of the apostle which could well be expressed by Art ; but none
of these are of great merit or interest : most of them are from the
schools of the seventeenth century.

St. Paul, though called to the apostleship after the ascension of
the Saviour, takes rank next to St. Peter as one of the chief witnesses
of the Christian faith. Of all the apostles he is the most interesting ;
the one of whose personal character and history we know most, and
through the most direct and irrefragable testimony. The events of
his life, as conveyed in the Acts and the Epistles, are so well known
that I need not here particularise them. The legends connected with
him are very few.

The earliest single figure of St. Paul to which I can refer was found
painted on the walls of the cemetery of Priscilla, near Rome.-^ He
stands, with outstretched arms, in the act of prayer (in the early ages
of Christianity the act of supplication was expressed in the classical
manner, that is, not with folded hands, but with the arms extended);
he has the nimbus ; his dress is that of a traveller, the tunic and
pallium being short, and his feet sandalled, perhaps to indicate his

^ Second or third century. Bosio, p. 519.

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. 213

many and celebrated travels ; perhaps, also, it represents Paul pray-
ing for his flock before he departed from Macedon to return to Jeru-
salem (Acts XX.) : over this ancient figure, which, though ill drawn,
is quite classical in sentiment and costume, is inscribed paulus.
PASTOR . APOSTOLOS ; on his right hand stands the Grood Shepherd,
in reference to the title of pastor, inscribed over his effigy. Another
figure of St. Paul, which appears to be of later date, but anterior to
the fifth century, was found in the catacombs at Naples : in this
effigy he wears the dress of a Greek philosopher ; the stj'le in which
the drapery is worn recalls the time of Hadrian : he has no nimbus,
nor is the head bald ; he has sandals on his feet : over his head is
inscribed his name, Paulus ; near him is a smaller figure similarly
draped, who offers him fruit and flowers in a vase ; probably the
personage who was entombed on the spot.

At what period the sword was given to St. Paul as his distinc-
tive attribute, is with antiquaries a disputed point ; certainly, much
later than the keys were given to Peter. -^ If we could be sure
that the mosaic on the tomb of Otho II., and another mosaic
already described, had not been altered in successive restorations,
these would be evidence that the sword was given to St. Paul as his
attribute as early as the 6th century ; but there are no monuments
which can be absolutely trusted as regards the introduction of
the sword before the end of the 11th century; since the end of the
14th century, it has been so generally adopted, that in the devo-
tional effigies I can remember no instance in which it is omitted.
When St. Paul is leaning on the sword, it expresses his martyr-
dom ; when he holds it aloft, it expresses also his warfare in the
cause of Christ: when two swords are given to him, one is the
attribute, the other the emblem ; but this double allusion does not
occur in any of the older representations. In Italy I never met
with St. Paul bearing two swords, and the only instance I can call
to mind is the bronze statue by Peter Vischer, on the shrine of St.
Sebald, at Nuremberg.

Although devotional representations of St. Paul separate from St.
Peter and the other apostles occur very rarely, pictures from his life

^ V. Hunter's Sinnbilder, p. 35.

214 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

and actions are commonly met with ; the principal events are so
familiar, that they are easily recognised and discriminated even by
the most unlearned in biblical illustration ; considered and treated
as a series, they form a most interesting and dramatic succession of
scenes, often introduced into the old churches ; but the incidents
chosen are not always the same.

Paul, before his conversion, was present at the stoning of Stephen,
and he is generally introduced holding on his knees the garments
of the executioners. In some ancient pictures, he has, even while
looking on and 'consenting to the death' of the victim, the glory
round his head, as one who, while ' breathing out threatenings and
slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,' was already a ' chosen
vessel to bear His name before the Gentiles.' But in a set of pic-
tures which relate expressly to St. Paul, the Martyrdom of Stephen
is, with proper feeling, omitted, and the series generally begins with
the Conversion of Paul, — in his character of apostle, the first
great event in his life. An incident so important, so celebrated,
and in all its accessories so picturesque and dramatic, has of course
been a frequent subject of artistic treatment, even as a separate
composition. In some of the old mosaics, the story is very simply,
and at the same time vividly, rendered. In the earliest examples,
St. Paul has the nimbus or glory while yet unconverted; he is
prostrate on the ground, grovelling on his hands and knees ; rays
of light fall upon him out of heaven, where the figure of Christ,
half-length, is seen emerging from glory ; sometimes it is a hand
only, which is the emblem of the Almighty Power ; two or four
attendants at most are flying in terror. It is not said in Scripture
that St. Paul journeyed on horseback from Jerusalem to Damascus ;
but the tradition is at least as old as the time of Pope Dalmasius
(a.d. 384), as it is then referred to. St. Augustine says he journeyed
on foot, because the Pharisees made a point of religion to go on foot,
and it is so represented in the old Greek mosaics. The expression,
' It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks,' has been oddly
enough assigned as a reason for placing Paul on horseback;^ at all
events, as he bore a military command, it has been thought proper
in later times so to represent him, and also as surrounded by a

1 V. Zani. Enc. della Belle Arti.

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. 2IS

numerous cortege of attendants. This treatment admits, of course,
of endless variety, in the disposition and number of the figures, in
the attitudes and expression ; but the moment chosen is generally
the same.

1. The oldest example I can cite, next to the Greek mosaics, is an
old Italian print mentioned by Zani. Paul, habited as a Roman
warrior, kneels with his arms crossed on his breast, and holding a
scroll, on which is inscribed in Latin, ' Lord, what shall I do ? "
Christ stands opposite to him, also holding a scroll, on which is
written, ^ Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?' There are no
attendants. Zani does not give the date of this quaint and simple
version of the story.

2. Eaphael. Paul, habited as a Roman soldier, is lying on the
ground as thrown from his horse ; he looks upward to Christ, who
appears in the clouds, attended by three child-angels : his attendants
on foot and on horseback are represented as rushing to his assistance,
unconscious of the vision, but panicstruck by its effect on kim : one
attendant in the background seizes by the bridle the terrified horse.
The original cartoon of this fine composition (one of the tapestries in
the Vatican) is lost.

3. Michael Angelo. Paul, a noble figure, though prostrate,
appears to be struck motionless and senseless : Christ seems to be
rushing down from heaven surrounded by a host of angels ; those of
the attendants who are near to Paul are flying in all directions,
while a long train of soldiers is seen ascending from the back-
ground. This grand dramatic composition forms the pendant to the
Crucifixion of Peter in the Cappella Paolina. It is so darkened by age
and the smoke of tapers, and so ill lighted, that it is not easily made
out ; but there is a fine engraving, which may be consulted.

4. Another very celebrated composition of this subject is that of
Rubens.^ Paul, lying in the foreground, expresses in his attitude
the most helpless and grovelling prostration. The attendants appear
very literally frightened out of their senses; and the grey horse
snorting and rearing behind is the finest part of the picture : as is
usual with Rubens, the effects of physical fear and amazement are
given with the utmost spirit and truth ; but the scriptural dignity,

^ In the Gallery of Mr Miles, at Leigh Court.

216 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

the supernatural terrors, of the subject are ill expressed, and the
apostle himself is degraded. To go a step lower, Cuyp has given us a
Conversion of St. Paul apparently for the sole purpose of introducing
horses in different attitudes; the favourite dapple grey charger is
seen bounding off in terror ; no one looks at St. Paul, still less to
Christ above — but the horses are admirable.

5. In Albert Diirer's print, a shower of stones is falling from
heaven on St. Paul and his company.

6. There is a very curious and unusual version of this subject in a
rare print by Lucas van Leyden. It is a composition of numerous
figures. St. Paul is seen, blind and bewildered, led between two
men; another man leads his frightened charger; several warriors
and horsemen follow, and the whole procession seems to be pro-
ceeding slowly to the right. In the far distance is represented the
previous moment — Paul struck down and blinded by the celestial
vision.

* Paul, after his Conversion, restored to sight by Auanias,' as a
separate subject, seldom occurs ; but it has been treated in the later
schools by Yasari, by Cavallucci, and by P. Cortona.

^The Jews flagellate Paul and Silas.' I know but one picture ot
this subject, that of Niccold Poussin : the angry Jews are seen
driving them forth with scourges ; the Elders, who have condemned
them, are seated in council behind : as we might expect from the
character of Poussin, the dignity of the apostles is maintained, —
but it is not one of his best pictures.

' Paul, after his Conversion, escapes from Damascus ; ' he is let
down in a basket (Acts ix. 25) : the incident forms, of course, one of
the scenes in his life when exhibited in a series, but I remember no
separate picture of this subject, and the situation is so ludicrous and
so derogatory that we can understand how it came to be avoided.

* The ecstatic vision of St. Paul, in which he w^as caught up to the
third heaven ' (2 Cor. xii. 2.) Paul, who so frequently and familiarly
speaks of angels, in describing this event, makes no mention of

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. 217

them, but in pictures he is represented as borne upwards by angels.
I find no early composition of this subject. The small picture of
Domenichino is coldly conceived. Poussin has painted the ' Ravis-
sement de St. Paul' twice; in the first, the apostle is borne upon
the arms of four angels, and in the second he is sustained by three
angels. In rendering this ecstatic vision, the angels, always
allowable as machinery, have here a particular propriety; Paul is
elevated only a few feet above the roof of his house, where lie his
sword and book. Here the sword serves to distinguish the person-
age ; and the roof of the house shows us that it is a vision, and not
an apotheosis. Both pictures are in the Louvre.

' Paul Preaching to the Converts at Ephesus.' In a beautiful
Raifaelesque composition by Le Sueur, the incident of the magicians
bringing their books of sorcery and burning them at the feet of the
apostle is well introduced. It was long the custom to exhibit this
picture solemnly in Notre Dame every year on the 1st of May. It
is now in the Louvre.

^ Paul before Felix,' and ' Paul before Agrippa.' Neither of these
subjects has ever been adequately treated. It is to me inconceivable
that the old masters so completely overlooked the opportunity for
grand characteristic delineation afforded by both these scenes, the
latter especially. Perhaps in estimating its capabilities, we are
misled by the effect produced on the imagination by the splendid
eloquence of the apostle ; yet, were another Raphael to arise, I would
suggest the subject as a pendant to the St. Paul at Athens.

' Paul performs miracles before the Emperor Nero ; ' a blind man,
a sick child, and a possessed woman are brought to him to be healed.
This, though a legendary rather than a scriptural subject, has been
treated by Le Sueur with scriptural dignity and simplicity.

' The Martyrdom of St. Paul ' is sometimes a separate subject,
but generally it is the pendant to the martyrdom of St. Peter. Ac-
cording to the received tradition, the two apostles suffered at the
same time, but in different places ; for St. Paul, being* by birth a
Roman citizen, escaped the ignominy of the public exposure in the
Circus, as well as the prolonged torture of the cross. He was

VOL. I. E E

218 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

beheaded by the sword outside the Ostian gate, about two miles from
Rome, at a place called the Aqua Salvias, now the ' Tre Fontanel
The legend of the death of St. Paul relates that a certain Roman
matron, named Plautilla, one of the converts of St. Peter, placed her-
self on the road by which St. Paul passed to his martyrdom, in order
to behold him for the last time ; and when she saw him, she wept
greatly, and besought his blessing. The apostle then, seeing her
faith, turned to her and begged that she would give him her veil to
bind his eyes when he should be beheaded, promising to return it to
her after his death. The attendants mocked at such a promise, but
Plautilla, with a woman's faith and charity, taking off her veil,
presented it to him. After his martyrdom, St. Paul appeared to
her, and restored the veil stained with his blood. It is also related,
that when he was decapitated the severed hep.d made three bounds
upon the earth, and wherever it touched the ground a fountain sprang
forth.

In the most ancient representations of the martyrdom of St. Paul,
the legend of Plautilla is seldom omitted. In the picture of Giotto
preserved in the sacristy of St. Peter's, Plautilla is seen on an
eminence in the background, receiving the veil from the hand of
Paul, who appears in the clouds above ; the same representation, but
little varied, is executed in bas-relief on the bronze doors of St.
Peter's. The three fountains gushing up beneath the severed head
are also frequently represented as a literal fact, though a manifest
and beautiful allegory, figurative of the fountains of Christian faith
which should spring forth from his martyrdom.

In all the melancholy vicinity of Pome, there is not a more melan-
choly spot than the ' Tre Fontaue.' A splendid monastery, rich with
the offerings of all Christendom, once existed there : the ravages of
that mysterious scourge of the Campagna, the malaria, have rendered
it a desert ; three ancient churches and some ruins still exist, and a
few pale monks wander about the swampy dismal confines of the
hollow in which they stand. In winter you approach them through
a quagmire ; in summer, you dare not breathe in their pestilential
vicinity ; and yet there is a sort of dead beauty about the place,
something hallowed as well as sad, which seizes on the fancy. In
the church properly called ' San Paolo delle Tre Fontane,' and which

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. 219

is 80 old that the date of the foundation is unknown, are three
chapels with altars raised over as many wells or fountains ; the
altars are modern, and have each the head of St. Paul carved in
relief. The water, which appeared to me exactly the same in all the
three fountains, has a soft insipid taste, neither refreshing nor
agreeable. The ancient frescoes have perished, and the modern
ones are perishing. It is a melancholy spot.

To return, however, to that event which has rendered it for ages
consecrated and memorable. Among the many representations of
the decollation of St. Panl which exist in sculpture and in painting,
I have not met with one which could take a high place as a work
of Art, or which has done justice to the tragic capabilities of the
subject.

After his martyrdom, the body of St. Paul was interred on a spot
between the Ostian gate and the Aqua Salvias, and there arose the
magnificent church known as San Voiolo-fuori-le-mura, I saw this
church a few months before it was consumed by fire in 1823 ; I saw
it again in 1847, when the restoration was far advanced. Its cold
magnificence, compared with the impressions left by the former
structure, rich with inestimable remains of ancient Art, and vener-
able from a thousand associations, saddened and chilled me.

The mosaics in the old church, which represented the life and
actions of St. Paul, w^ere executed by the Greek mosaic masters of
the eleventh century. Tliey appear to have comprised the same
subjects which still exist as a series in the church of Monreale near
Palermo, and which I shall now describe.

1. Saul is sent by the high priest to Damascus. Two priests are
seated on a raised throne in front of the Temple ; Saul stands before
them.

2. The Conversion of Saul, as already described (p. 214.)

3. Saul, being blind, is led by his attendants to the gate of
Damascus.

4. Saul seated. Ananias enters and addresses him.

5. Paul is baptized : he is standing, or rather sitting, in a font,
which is a large vase, and not much larger in proportion than a
punch-bowl.

6. St. Paul disputes with the Jews. His attitude is vehement

220 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

and expressive ; three Jewish doctors stand before him as if con-
founded and put to silence by his eloquent reasoning.

7. St. Paul escapes from Damascus ; the basket, in which he is
lowered down from a parapet, is about the size of a hand-basket.

8. St. Paul delivers a scroll to Timothy and Silas; he consigns to
their direction the deacons that were ordained by the apostles and
elders. (Acts xvi. 4.)

9. St. Paul and St. Peter meet at Eome, and embrace with
brotherly affection. I believe this subject to represent the recon-
ciliation of the two apostles after the dispute at Antioch. The
inscription is, Hie Paulus venit Romam et pacem fecit eum Petro.
(In the Christian Museum in the Vatican there is a most beautiful
small Greek picture in which Peter and Paul are embracing; it
may represent the reconciliation or the parting : the heads, thougli
minute, are extremely characteristic.)

10. The Decollation of St. Paul at the Aqua Salvias ; one
fountain only is introduced.

This is the earliest instance I can quote of the dramatic treatment of
the life and actions of St. Paul in a series of subjects. The G-reek
type of the head of St. Paul is retained throughout, strongly indivi-
dualised, and he appears as a man of about thirty-iive or forty. In the
later schools of Art, which afford some celebrated examples of the life
of St. Paul treated as a series, the Greek type has been abandoned.

The series, by Raphael, executed for the tapestries of the Sistine
Chapel in the Vatican, consists of five large and seven small com-
positions.

1. The Conversion of Saul, already described : the cartoon is lost.

2. Elymas the sorcerer struck blind : wonderful for dramatic power.

3. St. Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. 4. Paul preaches at Athens.
Of these three magnificent compositions we have the cartoons at
Hampton Court. 5. St. Paul in prison at Philippi. The earthquake
through which he was liberated is here represented allegorically as
a Titan in the lower corner of the picture, with shoulders and arms
heaving up the earth. This, which strikes us as rather pagan in
conception, has, however, a parallel in the earliest Christian Art,
where, in the baptism of Christ, the Jordan is sometimes represented
by a classical river-god, sedge-crowned, and leaning on his urn.

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. 221

The seven small subjects, which in the set of tapestries run under-
neath as borders to the large compositions, are thus arranged : —

1. ' As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every
house, and haling men and women committed them to prison ' (Acts
viii. 3). At one end of a long narrow composition Saul is seated in
the dress of a Koman warrior, and attended by a lictor ; they bring
before him a Christian youth ; farther on are seen soldiers 'haling men
and women ' by the hair ; others flee in terror. This was erroneously
supposed to represent the massacre at Prato, in 1512, by the adhe-
rents of the Medici, and is so inscribed in the set of engravings by
Bartoli and Landon.

2. John and Mark taking leave of the brethren at Perga in Pam-
phylia. (Acts xiii. 3.)

3. Paul, teaching in the synagogue at Antioch, confounds the Jews.
(Acts xviii. 3.)

4. Paul at Corinth engaged in tent-making with his host. This
is an uncommon subject, but I remember another instance in a curious
old German print, where, in the lower part of the composition, the
apostle is teaching or preaching ; and above there is a kind of gallery
or balcony, in which he is seen working at a loom ; ' You yourselves
know that these hands have ministered to my necessities, labouring
night and day, because we wo aid not be chargeable unto you' (Acts
xviii. 6).

5. Being at Corinth, he is mocked by the Jews. (Acts viii. 12.)

6. He lays his hand on the Christian converts.

7. He is brought before the judgment-seat of Gallio.^

' Paul, in the island of Melita, shaking the viper from his hand,' is
not a common subject, and yet it is capable of the finest picturesque
and dramatic effects : the storm and shipwreck in the background, the
angry heavens above, the red firelight, the group of astonished mariners,
and, pre-eminent among them, the calm intellectual figure of the
apostle shaking the venomous beast from his hand, — these are surely
beautiful and available materials for a scenic picture. Even if treated

^ Those who consult the engravings by Santi Bartoli atid Landon must bear in miad
that almost all the references are erroneous. See Passavaut's ' Rafael/ ii. 245.

222 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

as an allegory in a devotional sense, a single majestic figure, throw-
ing the evil thing innocuous from him, which I have not yet seen, it
would be an excellent and a significant subject. The little picture by
Elzheimer is the best example I can cite of the picturesque treatment.
That of Le Sueur has much dignity ; those of Perino del Vaga, Thorn-
hill, West, are all commonplace.

Thornhill, as everybody knows, painted the eight principal scenes
of the life of the apostle in the cupola of St. Paul's.-^ Few people, I
should think, have strained their necks to examine them ; the eight
original studies, small sketches en grisaille^ are preserved in the ves-
try, and display that heartless, mindless, mannered mediocrity, which
makes all criticism foolishness ; I shall, however, give a list of the
subjects.

1. Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. 2. Paul preaching at Athens.
3. Elymas struck blind. 4. The converts burn their magical books.
5. Paul before Festus. 6. A woman seated at his feet ; I presume
the Conversion of Lydia of Thyatira. 7. Paul let down in a basket.
8. He shakes the viper from his hand.

At the time that Thornhill was covering the cupola at ' the rate
of £2 the square yard,' Hogarth, his son-in-law, would also try his
hand. He painted ^ St. Paul pleading before Felix ' for Lincoln's Inn
Hall ; where the subject, at least, is appropriate. The picture itself is
curiously characteristic, not of the scene or of the chief personage, but
of the painter. St. Paul loaded with chains, and his accuser Tertul-
lus, stand in front; and Felix, with his wife Drusilla, are seated on
a raised tribunal in the background ; near Felix is the high priest
Ananias. The composition is good. The heads are full of vivid
expression — ^wrath, terror, doubt, fixed attention ; but the conception
of character most ignoble and commonplace. Hogarth was more at
home when he took the same subject as a vehicle for a witty cari-
cature of the Dutch manner of treating sacred subjects — their ludi-
crous anachronisms and mean incidents. St. Paul, in allusion to
his low stature, is mounted on a stool ; an angel is sawing through
one leg of it ; Tertullus is a barrister, in wig, band, and gown ; the

^ The clergy who permitted Sir James Thornhill to paint the cupola of St. Paul's with
Scripture scenes, refused to admit any other paintings into the church. Perhaps they
were justified ; but not by the plea of Bishop Terrick — the fear of idolatry.

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. 523

judge is like an old doting justice of peace, and his attendants like
old beggars.

In tlie Florentine Galler}^ there is a very curious series of the lives
of St. Peter and St. Paul in eight pictures, in the genuine old
German style ; fanciful, animated, full of natural and dramatic
expression, and exquisitely finished, — but dry, hard, grotesque, and
abounding in anachronisms."^

Among the few separate historical subjects in which St. Peter and
St. Paul are represented together, the most important is the dispute
at Antioch, — a subject avoided by the earliest painters. St. Paul
says, * When Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the
face, because he was to be blamed.' Guido's picture in the Brera
at Milan is celebrated: Peter is seated, looking thoughtful, with
downcast eyes, an open book on his knees ; Paul, in an attitude of
rebuke, stands over against him. There is another example by
Rosso : here both are standing ; Peter is looking down ; Paul, with
long hair and beard floating back, and a keen reproving expression,
' rebukes him to his face.' I presume the same subject to be repre-
sented by Lucas van Leyden in a rare and beautiful little print, in
which St. Peter and St. Paul are seated together in earnest conver-
sation. St. Peter holds a key in his right hand, and' points with
the other to a book which lies on his knees. St. Paul is about to
turn the leaf, and his right hand appears to rebuke St. Peter ; his
left foot is on the sword which lies at his feet.

' The Parting of St. Peter and St. Paul, before they are led to
death.' The scene is without the gates of Rome ; and as the soldiers
drag Peter away, he turns back to Paul with a pathetic expression.
This picture, now in the Louvre, is one of Lanfranco's best compo-
sitions.^

When the crucifixion of St. Peter and the decollation of St. Paul

^ This series, the most important work of the painter, Hans Schaufelein, is not meu.
tioned in Kugler's Handbook. It is engraved in outline in the * New Florence Gallery,*
published in 1837.

'^ 'St. Paul prevents his jailor from killing himself (Acts xvi.) has been lately painted
by Claude Halle, and is now in the Louvre. (Ecole franpaise, No. 283.)

224 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

are represented together in the same picture, such a picture must be
considered as religious and devotional, not historical; it does not
express the action as it really occurred, but, like many pictures of
the crucifixion of our Saviour, it is placed before us as an excite-
ment to piety, self-sacrifice, and repentance. We have this kind of
treatment in a picture by Niccolo dell' Abate : ^ St. Paul kneels
before a block, and the headsman stands with sword uplifted in act
to strike ; in the background, two other executioners grasp St. Peter,
who is kneeling on his cross and praying fervently: above, in a
glory, is seen the Virgin ; in her arms the Infant Christ, who
delivers to two angels palm-branches for the martyred saints. The
genius of Niccolo was not precisely fitted for this class of subjects.
But the composition is full of poetical feeling. The introduction of
the Madonna and Child stamps the character of the picture as devo-
tional, not historical — it would otherwise be repulsive, and out of
keeping with the subject.

There is a MartjTdom of St. Peter and St. Paul engraved after
Parmigiano,^ which I shall notice on account of its careless and
erroneous treatment. They are put to death together ; an executioner
prepares to decapitate St. Peter, and another drags St. Paul by the
beard : the incidents are historically false, and, moreover, in a de-
graded and secular taste. These are the mistakes that make us turn
disgusted from the technical facility, elegance, and power of the six-
teenth century, to the simplicity and reverential truth of the fourteenth.

There are various traditions concerning the relics of St. Peter and
St. Paul. According to some, the bodies of the two apostles were, in
the reign of Heliogabalus, deposited by the Christian converts in the
catacombs of Kome, and were laid in the same sepulchre. After the
lapse of about two hundred years, the Greek or Oriental Christians
attempted to carry them off; but were opposed by the Eoman Chris-
tians. The Romans conquered ; and the two bodies were transported
to the church of the Vatican, where they reposed together in a magni-
ficent shrine, beneath the church. Among the engravings in the work
of Ciampini and Bosio are two rude old pictures commemorating this
event. The first represents the combat of the Orientals and the Romans

^ In the DresdeD Gal., No. 821. = Bartsch, vii. 79.

ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. 226

for the bodies of the Saints ; in the other, the bodies are deposited in
the Vatican. In these two ancient representations, which were placed
in the portico of the old basilica of St. Peter, the traditional types
may be recognised — the broad full features, short curled beard, and
bald head of St. Peter, and the oval face and long beard of St. Paul.

Here I must conclude this summary of the lives and characters of
the two greatest apostles, as they have been exhibited in Christian
Art ; to do justice to the theme would have required a separate
volume. One observation, however, suggests itself, and cannot be
passed over. The usual type of the head of St. Peter, though often
ill rendered and degraded by coarseness, can in general be recognised
as characteristic ; but is there among the thousand representations
of the apostle Paul, one on which the imagination can rest completely
satisfied ? I know not one. No doubt the sublimest ideal of em-
bodied eloquence that ever was expressed in Art is Raphael's St.
Paul preaching at Athens. He stands there the delegated voice of
the true God, the antagonist and conqueror of the whole heathen
world : — ^ Whom ye ignorantly worship. Him declare I unto j^ou'
— is not this what he says ? Every feature, nay, every fold in his
drapery, speaks ; as in the other St. Paul leaning on his sword (in
the famous St. Cecilia), every feature and every fold of drapery medi-
tates. The latter is as fine in its tranquil melancholy grandeur, as
the former in its authoritative energy ; in the one the orator, in the
other the philosopher, were never more finely rendered : but is it, in
either, the Paul of Tarsus whom we know ? It were certainly both
unnecessary and pedantic to adhere so closely to historic fact as to
make St. Paul of diminutive stature, and St. Peter weak-eyed : but
has Eaphael done well in wholly rejecting the traditional portrait
which reflected to us the Paul of Scripture, the man of many toils
and many sorrows, wasted with vigils, worn down with travel, —
whose high bald forehead, thin flowing hair, and long pointed beard,
spoke so plainly the fervent and indomitable, yet meditative and
delicate, organisation, — and in substituting this Jupiter Ammon
head, with the dark redundant hair, almost hiding the brow, and the
full bushy beard ? This is one of the instances in which Raphael,
in yielding to the fashion of his time, has erred, as it seems to me, —

VOL. L ¥ F

226 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

though I say it with all reverence. The St. Paul rending his garments
at Lystra, and rejecting the sacrifice of the misguided people, is
more particularly false as to the character of the man though other-
wise so grandly expressive, that we are obliged to admire what our
better sense — our conscience — cannot wholly approve.

I shall now consider the rest of the apostles in their proper order.

St. Andrew.

Lat. S. Andreas. Ital. Sant' Andrea. Fr. St. Andr^. Patron saint of Scotland and of

Kussia. Nov. 30, a.d. 70.

St. Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter, and the first who was
called to the apostleship. Nothing farther is recorded of him in
Scripture : he is afterwards merely included by name in the general
account of the apostles.

In the traditional and legendary history of St. Andrew, we are told
that, after our Lord's ascension, when the apostles dispersed to preach
the Gospel to all nations, St. Andrew travelled into Scythia, Cappa-
docia, and Bithynia, everywhere converting multitudes to the faith.
The Russians believe that he was the first to preach to the Muscovites
in Sarmatia, and thence he has been honoured as titular saint of the
empire of Russia. After many sufferings, he returned to Jerusalem,
and thence travelled into Greece, and came at length to a city of
Achaia, called Patras. Here he made many converts ; among others,
Maximilla, the wife of the proconsul -^geus, whom he persuaded to
make a public profession of Christianity. The proconsul, enraged,
commanded him to be seized and scourged, and then crucified. The
cross on which he suffered was of a peculiar form {crux decussata), since
called the St. Andrew's cross ; and it is expressly said that he was not
fastened to his cross with nails, but with cords, — a circumstance always
attended to in the representations of his death. It is, however, to be
remembered, that w^hile all authorities agree that he was crucified, and
that the manner of his crucifixion was peculiar, they are not agreed as
to the form of his cross. St. Peter Chrysologos says that it was a tree :
another author affirms that it was an olive tree. The Abbe Mery

ST. ANDREW.

227

remarks, that it is a mistake to give the transverse cross to St.
Andrew ; that it ought not to differ from the cross of our Lord. His
reasons are not absolutely conclusive : — ^ II suffit pour montrer
qu'ils sont la-dessus dans I'erreur, de voir la croix veritable de St.
Andre, conservee dans I'Eglise de St. Victor de Marseille ; on trouvera
qu'elle est a angles droits,' &c.^ Seeing is believing; nevertheless
the form is fixed by tradition and usage, and ought not to be
departed from, though Michael Angelo has done so in the fio-ure of
St. Andrew in the Last Judgment, and there are several examples
in the Italian masters.^ The legend goes on to relate, that St.
Andrew on approaching the cross prepared for his execution, saluted
and adored it on his knees, as being already consecrated by the
sufferings of the Redeemer, and met his death triumphantly.
Certain of his relics were brought from Patras to Scotland in the
fourth century, and since that time St. Andrew has been honoured
as the patron saint of Scotland, and of its chief order of knight-
hood. He is also the patron saint of the famous
Burgundian Order, the Golden Fleece ; and
of Russia and its chief Order, the Cross of St.
Andrew.

Since the fourteenth century, St. Andrew is
generally distinguished in works of Art by the
transverse cross ; the devotional pictures in which
he figures as one of the series of apostles, or singly
as patron saint, represent him as a very old man
with some kind of brotherly resemblance to St.
Peter ; his hair and beard silver white, long, loose,
and flowing, and in general the beard is divided ;
he leans upon his cross, and holds the Gospel in
his right hand.

The historical subjects from the life of St. An-
drew, treated separately from the rest of the
apostles, are very few ; his crucifixion is the only

^ Th^ologie des Peintres.

^ In several ancient pictures and bas-reliefs the cross has the usual form, but he is not
nailed — always bound with cords, as in the ancient bas-relief over the portal of his church
at Vercell;.

74 St. Andrew.
(Peter Vischer.

S^ SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

one that I have found treated before the fifteenth century. On the
ancient doors of San Paolo, the instrument of his martyrdom has the
shape of a Y, and resembles a tree split down the middle. The cross
in some later pictures is very lofty, and resembles the rough branches
of a tree laid transversely.

I know but two other subjects relating to the life of St. Andrew
which have been separately treated in the later schools of Art — the
Adoration of the Cross, and the Flagellation.

^ St. Andrew Adoring his Cross,' by Andrea Sacchi, is remarkable
for its simplicity and fine expression ; it contains only three figures.
St. Andrew, half undraped, and with his silver hair and beard float-
ing dishevelled, kneels, gazing up to the cross with ecstatic devotion ;
he is addressing to it his famous invocation : — ' Salve, Croce preziosa !
che fosti consecrata dal corpo del mio Dio ! ' — an executioner stands
by, and a fierce soldier, impatient of delay, urges him on to death. -^

' St. Andrew Taken Down from the Cross ' is a fine eiTective picture
by Ribera.^ ,

When Guido and Domenichino painted, in emulation of each other,
the frescoes in the chapel of Sant' Andrea in the church of San
Gregorio, at Eome, Guido chose for his subject the Adoration of the
Cross. The scene is supposed to be outside the walls of Patras
in Achaia ; the cross is at a distance in the background ; St. Andrew,
as he approaches, falls down in adoration before the instrument of his
martyrdom, consecrated by the death of his Lord ; he is attended by
one soldier on horseback, one on foot, and three executioners ; a
group of women and alarmed children in the foreground are admirable
for grace and feeling — they are, in fact, the best part of the picture.
On the opposite wall of the chapel Domenichino painted the Flagella-
tion of St. Andrew, a subject most difficult to treat effectively, and
retain at the same time the dignity of the suffering apostle, while
avoiding all resemblance to a similar scene in the life of Christ.
Here he is bound down on a sort of table ; one man lifts a rod,
another seems to taunt the prostrate saint ; a lictor drives back the
people. The group of the mother and frightened cl^ildren, which
Domenichino so often introduces with little variation, is here very

i Gallery of the Vaticdn. ^ Munich, 363.

ST. ANDREW. 229

beautiful ; the judge and lictors are seen behind, with a temple and
a city in the distance. When Domenichino painted the same subject
in the church of Sant' Andrea-della-Valle, he chose another moment,
and administered the torture after a different manner : the apostle
is bound by his hands and feet to four short posts set firmly in the
ground ; one of the executioners in tightening a cord breaks it and
falls back ; three men prepare to scourge him with thongs : in the
foreground we have the usual group of the mother and her frightened
children. This is a composition full of dramatic life and movement,
but unpleasing. Domenichino painted in the same church the cruci-
fixion of the saint, and his apotheosis surmounts the whole.

All these compositions are of great celebrity in the history of Art
for colour and for expression. Lanzi says, that the personages, ^ if
endued with speech, could not say more to the ear than they do
to the eye.' But, in power and pathos, none of them equal the
picture of Murillo, of which we have the original study in England.^
St. Andrew is suspended on the high cross, formed not of planks,
but of the trunks of trees laid transversely. He is bound with cords,
undraped, except by a linen cloth; his silver hair and beard loosely^
streaming in the air ; his aged countenance illuminated by a heavenly
transport, as he looks up to the opening skies, whence two angels
of really celestial beauty, like almost all Murillo's angels, descend
with the crown and palm. In front, to the right, is a group of
shrinking, sympathising women ; and a boy turns away, crying with
a truly boyish grief; on the left are guards and soldiers. The
subject is here rendered poetical by mere force of feeling ; there is
a tragic reality in the whole scene, far more effective, to my taste,
than the more studied compositions of the Italian painters. The
Martyrdom of St. Andrew, and the Saint Preaching the Gospel, by
Juan de Roelas, are also mentioned as splendid productions of the
Seville school,

I think it possible that St. Andrew may owe his popularity in
the Spanish and Flemish schools of Art to his being the patron
saint of the far-famed Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece.
At the time that Constantinople was taken, and the relics of St.
Andrew dispersed in consequence, a lively enthusiasm for thia

^ In the collection of Mr Miles at Leigh Court.

180 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

apostle was excited throughout all Christendom. He had been
previousl}' honoured chiefly as the brother of St. Peter : he obtained
thenceforth a kind of personal interest and consideration. Philip
of Burgundy (a.d. 1433), who had obtained at great cost a portion
of the precious relics, consisting chiefly of some pieces of his cross,
placed under the protection of the apostle his new order of chivalry,
which, according to the preamble, was intended to revive the honour
and the memory of the Argonauts. His knights wore as their
bado;e the cross of St. Andrew.

St. James the Great.

Lot. Sanctus Jacobus Major. Ital. San Giacomo, or Jacopo, Maggiore. Fr. St. Jacques
Majeur. Spa. San Jago, or Santiago. ' El Tutelar. Patron saint of Spain. July 2o,
A.D. 44.

St. James the Great, or the Elder, or St. James Major, was nearly
related to Christ, and, with his brother John (the evangelist) and
Peter, he seems to have been admitted to particular favour, travelled
with the Lord, and was present at most of the events recorded in
the Gospels. He was one of the three who were permitted to wit-
ness the glorification of Christ on Mount Tabor, and one of those
who slept during the agony in the garden. After our Saviour's
ascension, nothing is recorded concerning him, except the fact that
Herod slew him with the sword. In the ancient traditions he is
described as being of a zealous and aflectionate temper, easily
excited to anger : of this we have a particular instance in his
imprecation against the inhospitable Samaritans, for which Christ
rebuked him : ' Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. The
Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.'
(Luke ix. 55.)

As Scripture makes no farther mention of one so distinguished by
his zeal and by his near relationship to the Saviour, the legends of
the Middle Ages have supplied this deficiency; and so amply, that
St. James, as St. Jago or Santiago, the military patron of Spain,
became one of the most renowned saints in Christendom, and one of

ST. JAMES THE GREAT. 231

the most popular subjects of Western Art. Many of these subjects
are so singular, that, in order to render them intelligible, I must give
the legend at full length as it was followed by the artists of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

According to the Spanish legend, the apostle James was the son
of Zebedee, an illustrious baron of Galilee, who, being the proprietor
of ships, was accustomed to fish along the shores of a certain lake
called Gennesareth, but solely for his good pleasure and recreation :
for who can suppose that Spain, that nation of Hidalgos and Cabal-
leros, would ever have chosen for her patron, or accepted as the
leader and captain-general of her armies, a poor ignoble fisherman ?
It remains, therefore, indisputable, that this glorious apostle, who
was our Lord's cousin-german, was of noble lineage, and worthy of
his spurs as a knight and a gentleman ; — so in Dante : —

Ecco il Barone
Per cui laggiii si visita Galizia.'

But it pleased him, in his great humility, to follow, while on earth,
the example of his divine Lord, and reserve his warlike prowess till
called upon to slaughter, by thousands and tens of thousands, those
wicked Moors, the perpetual enemies of Christ and His servants.
Now, as James and his brother John were one day in their father's
ship with his hired servants, and were employed in mending the
nets, the Lord, who was walking on the shores of the lake, called
them ; and they left all and followed Him ; and became thencefor-
ward His most favoured disciples, and the witnesses of His miracles
while on earth. After the ascension of Christ, James preached the
Gospel in Judea ; then he travelled over the whole world, and came
at last to Spain, where he made very few converts, by reason of
the ignorance and darkness of the people. One day, as he stood
with his disciples on the banks of the Ebro, the blessed Virgin
appeared to him seated on the top of a pillar of jasper, and sur-
rounded by a choir of Angels; and the apostle having thrown
himself on his face, she commanded him to build on that spot a
chapel for her worship, assuring him that all this province of Sara-
gossa, though now in the darkness of paganism, would at a future

232 RACKED AND LEGENDARY ART.

time be distinguished by devotion to her. He did as the holy
Virgin had commanded, and this was the origin of a famous church
afterwards known as that of Our Lady of the Pillar {' Nuestra
Senora del Pillar '). Then St. James, having founded the Christian
faith in Spain, returned to Judea, where he preached for many years,
and performed many wonders and miracles in the sight of the people :
and it happened that a certain sorcerer, whose name was Hermo-
genes,^ set himself against the apostle, just as Simon Magus had
wickedly and vainly opposed St. Peter, and with the like result.
Hermogenes sent his scholar Philetus to dispute with James, and
to compete with him in wondrous w^orks ; but, as you will easily
believe, he had no chance against the apostle, and, confessing him-
self vanquished, he returned to his master, to whom he announced
his intention to follow henceforth James and his doctrine. Then
Hermogenes, in a rage, bound Philetus by his diabolical spells, so
that he could not move hand or foot ; saying, ' Let us now see if thy
new master can deliver thee : ' and Philetus sent his servant to St.
James, praying for aid. Then the apostle took off his cloak, and gave
it to the servant to give his master , and no sooner had Philetus
touched it, than he became free, and hastened to throw himself at
the feet of his deliverer. Hermogenes, more furious than ever, called
to the demons who served him, and commanded that they should
bring to him James and Philetus, bound in fetters ; but on their
way the demons met with a company of Angels, who seized upon
them, and punished them for their wicked intentions, till they cried
for mercy. Then St. James said to them, ' Go back to him who sent
ye, and bring him hither bound.' And they did so ; and having laid
the sorcerer down at the feet of St. James, they besought him, say-
ing, ^Now give us power to be avenged of our enemy and thine! '
But St. James rebuked them, saying, ' Christ hath commanded us to
do good for evil.' So he delivered Hermogenes from their hands ;
and the magician, being utterly confounded, cast his books into the
sea^ and desired of St. James that he would protect him against the
demons, his former servants. Then St. James gave him his staff, as
the most effectual means of defence against the infernal spirits ; and

' Hermogenf^s was the name of a famous Gnostic teacher and philosopher ; thence, I
suppose, adopted into this legend.

ST. JAMES THE GREAT. {33

Hermogenes became a faithful disciple and preacher of the Word
from that day.

But the evil-minded Jews, being more and more incensed, took
James and bound him, and brought him before the tribunal of Herod
Agrippa ; and one of those who dragged him along, touched by the
gentleness of his demeanour, and by his miracles of mercy, was
converted, and supplicated to die with him; and the apostle gave
him the kiss of peace, saying, ' Pax vobis ! ' and the kiss and the
words together have remained as a form of benediction in the Church
to this day. Then they were both beheaded, and so died.

And the disciples of St. James came and took away his body;
and, not daring to bury it, for fear of the Jews, they carried it to
Joppa, and placed it on board of a ship : some say that the ship was
of marble, but this is not authenticated ; however, it is most certain
that angels conducted the ship miraculously to the coast of Spain,
where they arrived in seven days ; and, sailing through the straits
called the Pillars of Hercules, they landed at length in Galicia, at a
port called Iria Flavia, now Padron.

In those days there reigned over the country a certain queen whose
name was Lupa, and she and all her people were plunged in wicked-
ness and idolatry. Now, having come to shore, they laid the body
of the apostle upon a great stone, which became like wax, and, re-
ceiving the body, closed around it : this was a sign that the saint
willed to remain there ; but the wicked queen Lupa was displeased,
and she commanded that they should harness some wild bulls to a
car, and place on it the' body, with the self-formed tomb, hoping
that they would drag it to destruction. But in this she was mis-
taken ; for the wild bulls, when signed by the cross, became as docile
as sheep, and they drew the body of the apostle straight into the
com't of her palace. When Queen Lupa beheld this miracle, she
was confounded, and she and all her people became Christians : she
built a magnificent church to receive the sacred remains, and died
in the odour of sanctity.

But then came the darkness and ruin which during the invasion
of the Barbarians overshadowed all Spain ; and the body of the
apostle was lost, and no one knew where to find it, till, in the year
800, the place of sepulture was revealed to a certain holy friar.

VOL. I. G G

2S4 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

Then they caused the body of the saint to be transported to Com-
postella; and, in consequence of the surprising miracles which graced
his shrine, he was honoured not merely in Galicia, but throughout
all Spain. He became the patron saint of the Spaniards, and Com-
pos tella, as a place of pilgrimage, was renowned throughout Europe.
From all countries bands of pilgrims resorted there, so that some-
times there were no less than a hundred thousand in one year. The
military Order of Saint Jago, enrolled by Don Alphonso for their
protection, became one of the greatest and richest in Spain.

Now, if I should proceed to recount all the wonderful deeds enacted
by Santiago in behalf of his chosen people, they would fill a volume.
The Spanish historians number thirty-eight visible apparitions, in
which this glorious saint descended from heaven in person, and took
the command of their armies against the Moors. The first of these,
and the most famous of all, I shall now relate.

In the year of our Lord 939, King Ramirez, having vowed to
deliver Castile from the shameful tribute imposed by the Moors, of
one hundred virgins delivered annually, collected his troops, and
defied their king Abdelraman to battle : —

The king call'd God to witness, that, came there weal or woe,
Thenceforth no maiden tribute from out Castile should go. —
* At least I will do battle on God our Saviour's foe,
And die beneath my banner before I see it so 1 '

Accordingly he charged the Moorish host on the plain of Alveida or
Clavijo : after a furious conflict, the Christians were, by the permission
of Heaven, defeated, and forced to retire. Night separated the com-
batants, and King Eamirez, overpowered with fatigue, and sad at heart,
flung himself upon his couch and slept. In his sleep he beheld the
apostle St. Jago, who promised to be with him next morning in the
field, and assured him of victory. The king, waking up from the
glorious vision, sent for his prelates and ofiicers, to whom he related it;
and the next morning, at the head of his army, he recounted it to his
soldiers, bidding them rely on heavenly aid. He then ordered the
trumpets to sound to battle. The soldiers, inspired with fresh courage,
rushed to the fight. Suddenly St. Jago was seen mounted on a milk-
white charger, and waving aloft a white standard; he led on the

ST. JAMES THE GREAT. 235

Christians, who gained a decisive victory, leaving 60,000 Moors dead
on the field. This was the famous battle of Clavijo ; and ever since
that day, ' Santiago ! ' has been the war-cry of the Spanish armies.

But it was not only on sucb great occasions that the invincible
patron of Spain was pleased to exhibit his power : he condescended
oftentimes to interfere for the protection of the poor and oppressed,
of which I will now give a notable instance, as it is related by Pope
Calixtus 11.

There was a certain G-erman, who with his wife and son went on
a pilgrimage to St. James of Compostella. Having come as far as
Torlosa, they lodged at an inn there ; and the host had a fair daughter,
who, looking on the son of the pilgrim, a handsome and a graceful
youtb, became deeply enamoured ; but he, being virtuous, and, more-
over, on his way to a holy shrine, refused to listen to her allurements.

Then she thought how she might be avenged for this slight put
upon her charms, and hid in his wallet her father's silver drinking-
cup. The next morning, no sooner were they departed, than the
host, discovering his loss, pursued them, accused them before the
judge, and the cup being found in the j^oung man's wallet, lie was con-
demned to be hung, and all they possessed was confiscated to the host.

Then the afflicted parents pursued their way lamenting, and made
their prayer and their complaint before the altar of the blessed Saint
Jago ; and thirty-six days afterwards as they returned by the spot
where their son hung on the gibbet, they stood beneath it, weeping
and lamenting bitterly. Then the son spoke and said, ' 0 my mother !
0 my father I do not lament for me, for I have never been in better
cheer ; the blessed apostle James is at my side, sustaining me and
filling me with celestial comfort and joy I ' The parents, being
astonished, hastened to the judge, who at that moment was seated at
table, and the mother called out, ' Our son lives I * The judge mocked
at them : ' What sayest thou, good woman ? thou art beside thyself!
If thy son liveth, so do those fowls in my dish.' And lo I scarcely
had he uttered the words, when the fowls (being a cock and a hen)
rose up full-feathered in the dish, and the cock began to crow, to
the great admiration of the judge and his attendants.^ Then the

^ V. Southey, * Pilgrim of Compostella.'

236

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

judge rose up from table hastily, and called together the priests and
the lawyers, and they went in procession to the gibbet, took down
the young man, and restored him to his parents ; and the miraculous

cock and hen were placed under the
protection of the Church, where they
and their posterity long flourished in
testimony of this stupendous miracle.

There are many other legends of St.
James; the Spanish chroniclers in prose
and verse abound in such ; but, in
general, they are not merely incredible,
but puerile and unpoetical ; and I have
here confined myself to those which I
know to have been treated in Art.

Previous to the twelfth century, St.
James is only distinguished among the
apostles by his place, which is the fourth
in the series, the second after St. Peter
and St. Paul. In some instances he is
portrayed with a family resemblance to
Christ, being his kinsman ; the thin beard,
and the hair parted and flowing down on
each side. But from the thirteenth cen-
tury it became a fashion to characterise
St. James as a pilgrim of Compostella :
he bears the peculiar long stafl", to which
the walletor gourd ofwater is suspended;
the cloak with a long cape, the scallop-
shell on his shoulder or on his flapped hat.
"Where the cape, hat, and scallop-shells
are omitted, the stafl", borne as the flrst of
the apostles who departed to fulfil his Gospel mission, remains his
constant attribute, and by this he may be recognised in the Madonna
pictures, and when grouped with other saints.

The single devotional figures of St. James represent him in two
distinct characters : —

1. As tutelar saint of Spain, and conqueror of the Moors. In his

'5 St. James Major. (Gio. Santi

ST. JAMES THE GREAT.

mtiago. (Carreno de Miranda.)

pilgrim habit, mounted on a white charger, and waving a white
banner, with white hair and beard streaming like a meteor, — or
sometimes armed in complete steel, spurred like a knight, his casque
shadowed by white plumes, — he tramples over the prostrate Infidels ;
so completely was the humble, gentle-spirited apostle of Christ
merged in the spirit of the religious chivalry of the time. This
is a subject frequent in Spanish s.chools. The figure over the high
altar of Santiago is described as very grand when seen in the
solemn twilight.

2. St. James as patron saint in the general sense. The most
beautiful example I have met with is a picture in the Florence Gallery,

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART,

St. James Major. (A. del Savto.)

painted by Andrea del Sarto for the Compagnia or Confraternita of
Sant' Jacopo, and intended to figure as a standard in their proces-
sions. The Madonna di San Sislo of Raphael was painted for a
similar purpose : and such are still commonly used in the religious
processions in Italy ; but they have no longer Raphaels and Andrea-
del-Sartos to paint them. In this instance the picture has a particular
form, high and narrow, adapted to its especial purpose : St. James
wears a green tunic, and a rich crimson mantle ; and as one of the
purposes of the Compagnia was to educate poor orphans, they are

ST. JAMES THE GREAT. 239

represented by the two boys at his feet. This picture suffered from
the sun and the weather, to which it had been a hundred times ex-
posed in yearly processions ; but it has been well restored, and is
admirable for its vivid colouring as well as the benign attitude and
expression.

3. St. James seated ; he holds a large book bound in vellum (the
Gospels) in his left hand — and with his right points to heaven : by
Guercino, in the gallery of Count Harrach, at Vienna. One of the
finest pictures by Guercino I have seen.

Pictures from the life of St. James singly, or as a series, are not
common ; but among those which remain to us there are several of
great beauty and interest.

In the series of frescoes painted in a side chapel of the church of
St. Antony of Padua (a.d. 1376), once called the Capella di San
Giacomo, and now San Felice, the old legend of St. James has been
exactly followed ; and though ruined in many parts, and in others
coarsely repainted, these works remain as compositions amongst the
most curious monuments of the Trecentisti. It appears that, towards
the year 1376, Messer Bonifacio de' Lupi da Parma, Cavaliere e Mar-
chese di Serana, who boasted of his descent from the Queen Lupa
of the legend, dedicated this chapel to St. James of Spain (San
Jacopo di Galizia), and employed M. Jacopo Avanzi to decorate it,
who no doubt bestowed his best workmanship on his patron saint.
The subjects are thus arranged, beginning with the lunette on the
left hand, which is divided into three compartments :

1. Hermogenes sends Philetus to dispute with St. James. 2. St.
James in his pulpit converts Philetus. 3. Herm(;genes sends his
demons to bind St. James and Philetus. 4. Hermogenes brought
bound to St. James. 5. He burns his books of magic. 6. Hermo-
genes and Philetus are conversing in a friendly manner with St.
James. 7, St. James is martyred. 8. The arrival of his body in
Spain in a marble ship steered by an angel. 9. The disciples lay the
body on a rock, while Queen Lupa and her sister and another per-
sonage look on from a window in her palace. Then follow two com-
partments on the side where the window is broken out, much ruined ;
they represented apparently the imprisonment of the disciples. 12.
The disciples escape and are pursued, and their pursuers with tJieir

240

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

horses are drowned. 13. The wild bulls draw the sarcophagus into
the court of Queen Lupa's palace. 14. Baptism of Lupa. 15 and 16
(lower compartments to the left) : St. Jago appears to King Ramirez,
and the defeat of the Moors at Clavijo.

There is a rare and curious print by Martin Schoen, in which the
apparition of St. James at Clavijo is represented not in the Spanish
but the German style. It is an animated composition of many
figures. The saint appears on horseback in the midst, w^earing his
pilgrim's dress, with the cockle-shell in his hat : the Infidels are
trampled down, or fly before him.

The Aiiracle of the Fowls. (Lo Spagna.)

On the road from Spoleto to Foligno, about four miles from
Spoleto, there is a small chapel dedicated to St. James of Galizia.
The frescoes representing the miracles of the saint were painted by
Lo Spagna (a.d. 1526), the friend and fellow pupil of Raphael.
In the vault of the apsis is the Coronation of the Virgin ; she kneels,
attired in white drapery flowered with gold, and the whole group,
though inferior in power, appeared to me in delicacy and taste far
superior to the fresco of Fra Filippo Lippi at Spoleto, from which

ST. PHILIP. 2*1

Passavant thinks it is borrowed.^ Immediately under the Corona-
tion, in the centre, is a figure of St. James as patron saint, standing
with his pilgrim's staff in one hand, and the Grospel in the other ;
his di'ess is a yellow tunic with a blue mantle thrown over it. In
the compartment on the left, the j^outh is seen suspended on the
gibbet, while St. James with his hands under his feet sustains him ;
the father and mother look up at him with astonishment. In the
compartment to the right, we see the judge seated at dinner, attended
by his servants, one of whom is bringing in a dish : the two pilgrims
appear to have just told their story, and the cock and hen have risen
up in the dish (78). These frescoes are painted with great elegance
and animation, and the story is told with much naivete. I found the
same legend painted on one of the lower windows of the church of
St. Ouen, and on a window of the right-hand aisle in St. Vincent's at
Eouen.

Of St. John, who is the fifth in the series, I have spoken at large

under the head of the Evangelists.

St. Philip.

Ital. San Filippo Apostolo. Fi\ Saint Philippe. Patron of Brabant and Luxembourg.

May 1.

Of St. Philip there are few notices in the Gospel. He was born at
Bethsaida, and he was one of the first of those whom our Lord sum-
moned to follow Him. After the ascension, he travelled into Scythia,
and remained there preaching the Gospel for twenty years ; he then
preached at Hieropolis in Phrygia, where he found the people ad-
dicted to the v,^orship of a monstrous serpent or dragon, or of the god
Mars under that form. Taking compassion on their blindness, the
apostle commanded the serpent, in the name of the cross he held in
his hand, to disappear, and immediately the reptile glided out from
beneath the altar, at the same time emitting such a hideous stench,
that many people died, and among them the king's son fell dead in
the arms of his attendants: but the apostle, by Divine power,

* Passavant's Rafael, I. 608.
VOL. I. H H

212

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

restored him to life. Then the priests of the dragon were incensed
against him, and they took him, and crucified him, and being bound
on the cross they stoned him ; thus he yielded up his spirit to God,
praying, like his Divine Master, for his enemies and tormentors.

According to the Scripture, St. Philip had four daughters, who
were prophetesses, and made many converts to the faith of Christ
(Acts xxi. 9). In the Greek calendar, St. Mariamne, his sister, and
St. Hermione, his daughter, are commemorated as martyrs.

When St. Philip is represented alone, or as one of the series of
apostles, he is generally a man in the prime of lifp, with little beard,
and with a benign countenance, being described as of a remarkably
cheerful and affectionate nature. He bears, as his attribute, a cross,
which varies in form ; sometimes it is a small cross, which he carries in
his hand ; sometimes a high cross in the form of a T, or a tall staff
with a small Latin cross at the top of it (79). The cross of St. Philip
may have a treble signification : it may allude to his martyrdom ; or to
his conquest over the idols through the power of
the cross; or, when placed on the top of the
pilgrim's staff, it may allude to his mission among
the barbarians as preacher of the cross of salvation.
Single figures of St. Philip as patron are not
common : there is a fine statue of him on the
facade of San Michele at Florence , and a noble
figure by Beccafumi, reading;-^ another, seated
and reading, by Ulrich Mair.^

Subjects from the life of St. Philip, wliether as

II \\ / / M ' If single pictures or in a series, are also rarely met
I \ / U v'l i! with. As he was the first called by our Saviour
to leave all and follow Him, and his vocation
therefore a festival in the Church, it must, I think,
have been treated apart ; but I have not met with
it. I know but of three historical subjects taken
from his life : —

1. Bonifazio. St. Philip stands before the
Saviour ; the attitude of the latter is extremely dignified, that of Philip

^ Duomo, Siena. ^ Belvedere, Vienna.

79 St. Philip. (A. Durer.)

ST. PHILIP.

243

supplicatoiy ; the other apostles are seen in the background: the
colouring and expression of the whole like Titian. The subject of this
splendid picture is expressed by the inscription underneath (John xiv.
14) : ' Domine, ostende nobis Patrem, et sufficit nobis.' ' Philippe,
qui videt me, videt et Patrem meum : ego et Pater unum sumus.' ^

2. St. Philip exorcises the serpent. The scene is the interior of a
temple, an altar with the statue of the god Mars : a serpent, creeping
from beneath the altar, slays the attendants with his poisonous and
fiery breath. The ancient i'resco in his chapel at Padua, described by
Lord Lindsay, is extremely animated, but far inferior to the same
subject in the Santa Croce at Florence by Fra Filippo Lippi, where
the dignified attitude of the apostle, and the group of the king's son
dying in the arms of the attendants, are admirably efiective and
dramatic. St. Philip, it must be observed, was the patron saint of
the painter.

3. The Crucifixion of St. Philip. According to the old Greek
traditions, he was crucified with his head downwards, and he is
80 represented on the gates of San Paolo; also in an old picture
over the tomb of Cardinal Philippe d'Alengon; where his patron,
St. Philip, is attached to the cross with cords, and head downwards,
like St. Peter ; ^ but in the old fresco by Giusto da Padova, in the
Capella di San Filippo, he is crucified in the usual manner, arrayed
in a long red garment which descends to his feet.

It is necessary to avoid confounding St. Philip the apostle with St.
Philip the deacon. It was Philip the deacon w^ho baptized the cham-
berlain of Queen Candace, though the action has sometimes been
attributed to Philip the apostle. The incident of the baptism of the
Ethiopian, taking place in the road, by running water, * on the way
that goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza,' has been introduced into
several beautiful landscapes w^ith much picturesque effect. Claude
has thus treated it ; Salvator Rosa ; Jan Both, in a most beautiful
picture in the Queen's Gallery ; Rembrandt, Cuyp, and others.

* Venice Acad, ^ l^.ome, S. Mariain-Trastevere. a.d. 1397.

244

SACRED AND l.EGENDARY ART.

St. Bartholomew.

JmU S. Bartholomeus. Jtal. San Bartolomeo. Fr. St. Bartb^lemi. Aiig. 24.

As St. Bartholomew is nowhere mentioned in the canonical books,
except by name in enumerating the apostles, there has been large
scope for legendary story,, but in works of Art he is not a popular saint.

According to one tradition, he was the son
of a husbandman ; according to another, he
was the son of a prince Ptolomeus. After
the ascension of Christ he travelled into
India, even to the confines of the habitable
world, carrying with him the Gospel of St.
Matthew ; returning thence, he preached in
Armenia and Cilicia; and coming to
the city of Albanopolis, he was condemned
to death as a Christian : he was first flayed
and then crucified.

In single figures and devotional pictures,
St. Bartholomew sometimes carries in one
hand a book, the Gospel of St. Matthew ;
but his peculiar attribute is a large knife,
the instrument of his martyrdom. The
legends describe him as having a quantity
of strong black hair and a bushy grizzled
beard ; and this portrait being followed very
literally by the old German and Flemish
painters, gives him, with his large knife,
the look of a butcher. In the Italian
pictures, though of a milder and more
dignified appearance, he has frequently
St. Bartholomew. (Giotto.) black hair; and sometimes dark and'
resolute features ; yet the same legend describes him as of a cheerful
countenance, wearing a purple robe and attended by angels. Some-
times St. Bartholomew has his own skin hanging over his arm, as
among the saints in Michael Aiigelo's Last Judgment, where he is

ST. BARTHOLOMEW. o^s

holding forth his skin in one hand, and grasping his knife in the
other : and in the statue by Marco Agrati in the Milan Cathedral,
famous for its anatomical precision and its boastful inscription, Non
me Praxiteles sed Marcus pinxit Agratis. I found in the church of
Notre Dame at Paris a picture of St. Bartholomew healing the
Princess of Armenia. With this exception, 1 know not any historical
subject where this apostle is the principal figure, except his revolting
and cruel martyrdom. In the early Greek representation on the
gates of San Paolo, he is affixed to a cross, or rather to a post, with
a small transverse bar at top, to which his hands are fastened above
his head ; an executioner, with a knife in his hand, stoops at his feet.
This is very different from the representations in the modern schools.
The best, that is to say, the least disgusting, representation I have
met with, is a small picture by Agostino Caracci, in the Sutherland
Gallery, which once belonged to King Charles I. : it is easy to see
that the painter had the antique Marsyas in his mind. That dark
ferocious spirit, Ribera, found in it a theme congenial with his own
temperament ; ^ he has not only painted it several times with a
horrible truth and power, but etched it elaborately with his own hand :
a small picture, copied from the etching, is at Hampton Court.

St. Thomas.

Hal. San Tomaso. Sp. San Tome. Dec. 21. Patron Saint of Portugal and Parma.

St. Thomas, called Didymus (the twin), takes, as apostle, the
seventh place. He was a Galilean and a fisherman, and we find him
distinguished among the apostles on two occasions recorded in the
Gospel. When Jesus was going up to Bethany, being then in danger
from the Jews, Thomas said, ^ Let us also go, that we may die with
Him ' (John xi. 16, xx. 25). After the resurrection, he showed
himself unwilling to believe in the reappearance of the crucified
Saviour without ocular demonstration : this incident is styled the
Incredulity of Thomas. From these two incidents we may form some
idea of his character : courageous and affectionate, but not inclined

^ Stirling's ' Artists of Spain,' ii. p. 753.

246

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

to take things for granted ; or, as a French writer expresses it,
^ brusque et resohi, mais d'un esprit exigeant.' After the ascension,
St. Thomas travelled into the East, preaching the Gospel in far
distant countries towards the rising sun. It is a tradition received
in the Church, that he penetrated as far as India ; that there meeting
with the three Wise Men of the East, he baptized them ; that he
founded a church in India, and suffered martyrdom there. It is re-
lated, that the Portuguese found at Meliapore an ancient inscription,
purporting that St. Thomas had been pierced with a lance at the foot
of a cross which he had erected in that city, and that in 1523 his
body was found there and transported to Goa.

In Correggio's fresco of St. Thomas as protector of Parma he is
surrounded by angels bearing exotic fruits, as expressing his ministry
in India.

There are a number of extravagant and poetical legends relating
to St. Thomas. I shall here limit myself to those
which were adopted in ecclesiastical decoration,
and treated by the artists of the Middle Ages.

When St. Thomas figures as apostle, alone or
with others, in all the devotional representations
which are not prior to the
thirteenth century, he carries
as his attribute the builder's
rule, of this form —

Now, as he was a fisherman,
and neither a carpenter nor a mason, the origin
of this attribute must be sought in one of the
most popular legends of which he is the subject.
^ When St. Thomas was at Cesarea, our Lord
appeared to him and said, ^^ The King of the
Indies, Gondoforus, hath sent his provost Abanes
to seek for workmen well versed in the science
of architecture, who shall build for him a palace
finer than that of the Emperor of Rome. Behold,
?i St. Thomas the Apostle, ^q^^ J y^'^\ gg^d thce to him." And Thomas
went, and Gondoforus commanded him to build for him a magnifi-
cent palace, and gave him much gold and silver for the purpose.

ST. THOMAS. 247

The king went into a distant country, and was absent for two years ;
and St. Tliomas meanwhile, instead of building a palace, distributed
all the treasures entrusted to him among the poor and sick ; and
when the king returned, he was full of wrath, and he commanded
that St. Thomas should be seized and cast into prison, and he
meditated for him a horrible death. Meantime the brother of the
king died ; and the king resolved to erect for him a most magnificent
tomb ; but the dead man, after that he had been dead four days,
suddenly arose and sat upright, and said to the king, " The man
whom thou wouldst torture is a servant of God : behold I have been
in Paradise, and the angels showed to me a wondrous palace of
gold and silver and precious stones," and they said, " This is the
palace that Thomas the architect hath built for thy brother King
Gondoforus." And when the king heard these words, he ran to
the prison, and delivered the apostle ; and Thomas said to him,
'^ Knowest thou not that those who would possess heavenly things,
have little care for the things of this earth ? There are in heaven
rich palaces without number, which were prepared from the begin-
ning of the world for those who purchase the possession through
faith and chkrity. Thy riches, 0 King, may prepare the way for
thee to such a palace, but they cannot follow thee thither." ' ^

The builder's rule in the hand of St. Thomas characterises him as
the spiritual architect of King Gondoforus, and for the same reason he
has been chosen among the saints as patron of architects and builders.

There is in this legend or allegory, fanciful as it is, an obvious
beauty and significance, which I need not point out. It appears to
me to be one of those many legends which originally were not assumed
to be facts, but were related as parables, religious fictions invented
for the instruction of the people, like our Saviour's stories of the
' Good Samaritan,' the ' Prodigal Son,' &c., and were rendered more
striking and impressive by the introduction of a celebrated and
exalted personage — our Saviour, the Virgin, or one of the apostles —
as hero of the tale. This beautiful legend of St. Thomas and King
Gondoforus is painted on one of the windows of the cathedral at
Bourges, — an appropriate ofi'ering from the company of builders in
that ancient city. It is also the subject of one of the finest of the

1 Legenda Aurea,

^48 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

ancient French mysteries^ which was acted with great applause at
Paris in the fourteenth century.

But, in the historical subjects from the life of St. Thomas, the
first place must be given to the one scriptural incident in which he
figures as a principal person. ' The Incredulity of St. Thomas '
occurs in all the early series of the life of Christ, as one of the events
of his mission, and one of the proofs of his resurrection. On the
ancient gates of San Paolo it is treated with great simplicity as a
sacred mystery, St. Thomas being the principal personage in the
action, as the one whose conviction was to bring conviction to the
universe. Christ stands on a pedestal surmounted by a cross ; the
apostles are ranged on each side, and St. Thomas, approaching,
stretches forth his hand. The incident, as a separate subject, is of
frequent occurrence in the later schools of Italy, and in the Flemish
schools. The general treatment, when given in this dramatic style,
admits of two variations : either St. Thomas is placing his hand,
with an expression of doubt and fear, on the wounds of the Saviour ;
or, his doubts being removed, he is gazing upwards in adoration and
wonder. Of the first, one of the finest examples is a well-known
picture by Rubens,^ one of his most beautiful works, and extraordinary
for the truth of the expression in the countenance of the apostle,
whose hand is on the side of Christ; St. John and St. Peter are
behind. In Vandyck's picture at Petersburg, St. Thomas stoops to
examine the Saviour's hand. In a design ascribed to Raphael, we
have the second version : the look of astonished conviction in St.
Thomas.^ Niccolo Poussin has painted it finely, introducing twelve
figures.^ Guercino's picture is celebrated, but he has committed the
fault of representing the two principal figures both in profile.*

The legendary subject styled * La Madonna dell a Cintola ' belongs
properly to the legends of the Virgin, but as St. Thomas is always a
principal personage I shall mention it here. The legend relates
that when the Madonna ascended into heaven, in the sight of the
apostles, Thomas was absent ; but after three days he returned, and,
doubting the truth of her glorious translation, he desired that her

1 Gallery of Antwerp. ^ Passavant's Rafael, II. 116.

^ Eng. by Audrau. ■* Gal. Vatican.

yA.^s^Ky0i(^ect^>,

^^-i^tn^c-c

ST. THOMAS.

S49

tomb should be opened ; which was done, and lo ! it was found
empty. Then the Virgin, taking pity on his weakness and want
of fiiith, threw down to him her girdle, that this tangible proof
remaining in his hands might remove all doubts for ever from his
mind : hence in many pictures of the Assumption and Coronation
of the Virgin, St. Thomas is seen below holding the sacred girdle
in his hand. For instance, in Raphael's beautiful ' Coronation ' in
the Vatican ; and in Correggio's ^Assumption ' at Parma, where St.
Thomas holds the girdle, and another apostle kisses it.

The belief that the girdle is preserved in the Cathedral at Pistoia
has rendered this legend a popular subject with the Florentine painters;
and we find it treated, not merely as an incident in the scene of the
Assumption, but in a manner purely mystic and devotional. Thus,
in a charming bas-relief by Luca della Robbia,-^ the Virgin, surrounded
by a choir of angels, presents her girdle to the apostle. In a beauti-
ful picture by Granacci,^ the Virgin is seated on the clouds ; beneath
is her empty sepulchre : on one side kneels St. Thomas, who receives
with reverence the sacred girdle ; on the other kneels the Archangel
Michael. In simplicity of arrangement, beauty of expression, and
tender harmony of colour, this picture has seldom been exceeded.
Granacci has again treated this subject, and St. Thomas receives the
girdle in the presence of St, John the Baptist, St. James Major, St.
Laurence, and St. Bartholomew.^ We have the same subject by
Paolino da Pistoia ; by Sogliani ; and by Mainardi, a large and very
fine fresco in the church of Santa Croce at Florence.

A poetical and truly mystical version of this subject is that
wherein the Infant Saviour, seated or standing on his mother's knee,
looses her girdle and presents it to St. Thomas. Of this I have seen
several examples ; one in the Duomo at Viterbo.*

In the Martyrdom of St. Thomas, several idolaters pierce him
through with lances and javelins. It was so represented on the
doors of San Paolo, with four figures only. Rubens, in his large pic-
ture, has followed the legend very exactly; St. Thomas embraces the
cross, at the foot of which he is about to fall, transfixed by spears.

1 Fl. Acad. 2 FI. Gal. 3 Florence, Casa Ruccellai.

■* The romantic Legend of the sacratissima cintola, ' the most sacred girdle of the Virgin,
ii given at length in the * Legends of the Madonna,' p. 344.

VOL. 1. II

250 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

A large picture in the gallery of Count Harrach at Vienna, called
there the Martyrdom of St. Jude, I believe to represent the Martyr-
dom of St. Thomas. Two of the idolatrous priests pierce him with
lances. Albert Dtirer, in his beautiful print of St. Thomas, represents
him holding the lance, the instrument of his martyrdom : but this
is very unusual.

The eighth in the order of the Apostles is the Evangelist Sr,
Matthew, of whom I have spoken at length.

St. James Minor.

Lat. S. Jacobus Frater Domini. Gr. Adelphotheos. Ital. San Jacopo or Giacomo Minore.
Fr. St. Jacques Mineur. (May 1.)

The ninth is St. James Minor, or the Less, called also the Just : he
was a near relative of Christ, being the son of Mary, the wife of Cleo-
phas, who was the sister of the Virgin Mary ; hence he is styled ' the
Lord's brother.' Nothing particular is related of him till after the
ascension. He is regarded as first Christian bishop of Jerusalem, and
venerated for his self-denial, his piety, his wisdom, and his charity.
These characteristics are conspicuous in the beautiful Epistle which
bears his name. Having excited, by the fervour of his teaching, the
fury of the Scribes and Pharisees, and particularly the enmity of the
high-priest Ananus, they flung him down from a terrace or parapet of
the Temple, and one of the infuriated populace below beat out his
brains with 2. fuller^ s club.

In single figures and devotional pictures, St. James is generally
leaning on this club, the instrument of his martyrdom. According
to an early tradition, he so nearly resembled our Lord in person, in
features and deportment, that it was difficult to distinguish them.
^ The Holy Virgin herself,' says the legend, ^ had she been capable
of error, might have mistaken one for the other ; ' and this exact
resemblance rendered necessary the kiss of the traitor Judas, in order
to point out his victim to the soldiers.

ST. JAMES MINOR.

1251

This characteristic resemblance is attended to in the earliest and
best representations of St. James, and by
this he may usually be distinguished when
he does not bear his club, which is often a
thick stick or staff. With the exception of
those Scripture scenes in which the apostles
are present, I have met with few pictures
in which St. James Minor is introduced :
he does not appear to have been popular as
a patron saint. The event of his martyr-
dom occurs very seldom, and is very lite-
rally rendered : the scene is a court of
the Temple, with terraces and balconies ;
he is falling, or has fallen, to the ground,
and one of the crowd lifts up the club to
smite him.

Ignorant artists have in some instances
confounded St. James Major and St. James
Minor. The Cappella dei Belludi at Padua,
already mentioned, dedicated to St. Philip
and St. James, contains a series of frescoes
from the life of St. James Minor, in wliich
are some of the miraculous incidents attri-
buted in the Legenda Aurea to St. James
Major.

1. The Council of the Apostles held at Jerusalem, in which St.
James was nominated chief or bishop of the infant Church. 2. Our
Saviour after His resurrection appears to St. James, who had vowed
not to eat till he should see Christ.-^ 3. St. James thrown down
from the pulpit in the court of the Temple. 4. He is slain by the
fuller. 5. A certain merchant is stript of all his goods by a tyrant,

St. James Minor.

^ ' Very soon after the Lord was risen, he went to James, and showed Himself to him.
For James had solemnly sworn that he would eat no bread from the time that he had
drunk the cup of the Lord till he should see him risen from among them that sleej^
"Bring," saith the Lord, "a table and bread." He took bread, and blessed and brake it,
and then gave it to James the Just, and said to him, "My brother, eat thy bread ; for
the Son of man is risen from among them that sleep. " ' — St. Jerome, as quoted in Lardner,
Lives of the Apostles, chap. xvi.

252 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

and cast into prison. He implores the protection of St. James, who,
leading him to the summit of the tower, commands the tower to bow
itself to the ground, and the merchant steps from it and escapes :
or, according to the version followed in the fresco, the apostle lifts
the tower on one side from its foundation, and the prisoner escapes
from under it, like a mouse out of a trap. 6. A poor pilgrim, having
neither money nor food, fell asleep by the way-side, and, on waking,
found that St. James had placed beside him a loaf of bread, which
miraculously supplied his wants to the end of his journey. These
two last stories are told also of St. James of Galicia, but I have
never met with any pictures of his life in which they are included.
Here they undoubtedly refer to St. James Minor, the chapel being
consecrated to his honour.

St. Simon Zelotes (or The Zealot). St. Jude (Thaddetjs,

OR Lebbeus).

Ital, San Simone ; San Taddeo. Fr. St. Simon le Z^ld. St. Thaddde. Ger. Judas Thaddiius.

(Oct. 28.)

The uncertainty, contradiction, and confusion which I find in all the
ecclesiastical biographies relative to these apostles, make it impos-
sible to give any clear account of them ; and as subjects of Art they
are so unimportant, and so uninteresting, that it is the less necessary.
According to one tradition, they were the same mentioned by Matthew
as our Lord's brethren or kinsmen. But, according to another tradi-
tion, they were not the same, but two brothers who were among the
shepherds to whom the angel and the heavenly host revealed the birth
of the Saviour. Those painters who followed the first tradition repre-
sent Simon and Jude as young, or at least in the prime of life. Those
who adopt the second represent them as very old, taking it for granted
that at the birth of Christ they must have been full-grown men ; and
this, I think, is the legend usually followed. It seems, however,
generally agreed, that they preached the Gospel together in Syria and
Mesopotamia, and together suffered martyrdom in Persia : in what

ST. SIMON ZELOTES.— ST. JUDE.

manner they suffered is unknown ; but it is supposed that St. Simon
was sawn asunder, and St. Thaddeus killed with a halberd.

In a series of apostles, St. Simon bears the saw, and St. Thaddeus
a halberd. In Greek Art, Jude and Thaddeus are two different
persons. Jude is represented young, Thaddeus old. St. Simon in
extreme old age, with a bald head, and long w^hite beard. In the
Greek representation of his martyrdom, he is affixed to a cross
exactly like that of our Saviour, so that, but for the superscription
O CIMI2N, he might be mistaken for Christ. I do not know of
any separate picture of these apostles.

There is, however, one manner of treating them, with reference
to their supposed relationship to our Saviour, which is peculiarly
beautiful. Assuming that the three last-named apostles, James,
the son of Mary Cleophas ; Simon and Jude ; Joseph or Joses the
Just, also named by Matthew among the brethren of Christ ;
together with James and John, the sons of Mary Salome, — were
all nearly related to the Saviour ; it was surely a charming idea to
group as children around Him in His infancy those who were after-
wards called to be the chosen ministers of His Word. Christianity,
which has glorified womanhood and childhood, never suggested to
the Christian artist a more beautiful subject, nor one which it would
be more easy, by an unworthy or too picturesque treatment, to
render merely pretty and commonplace. This version, however, ot
the Sacra Famiglia is rarely met with. There is an example in the
Louvre, signed 'Laurentius' (Lorenzo di Pavia, a.d. 1513), which
is remarkable as a religious representation ; but the most beautiful
instance of this treatment is a chef-d'oeuvre of Perugino, in the
Musee at Marseilles. In the centre is the Virgin, seated on a
throne ; she holds the infant Christ in her arms. Behind her is St.
Anna, her two hands resting affectionately on the shoulders of the
Virgin. In front, at the foot of the throne, are two lovely children,
undraped, with glories round their heads, on which are inscribed
their names, Simon and Thaddeus. To the right is Mary Salome, a
beautiful young woman, holding a child in her arms — St. John,
afterwards the evangelist. Near her is Joachim, the father of the
Virgin. At his feet another child, James Major. To the left of the
Virgin, Mary the wife of Cleophas, standing, holds by the hand

254

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

James Minor : behind her, Joseph, the husband of the Virgin, and
at his feet another child, Joseph (or Joses) Justus. I have also
seen this subject in illuminated MSS., and, however treated, it is
surely very poetical and suggestive/

St. Matthias.

Ital. San Mattia. Fr. St. Mathias. (Feb. 24.)

St. Matthias, who was chosen by lot to fill the place of the traitor

Judas, is the last of the apostles. (Acts i.) He preached the Gospel

in Judea, and suffered martyrdom at
the hands of the Jews, either by the
lance or by the axe. In the Italian
series of the apostles, he bears as his
attribute the lance ; in the German sets,
more commonly the axe. ^ The ceremony
of choosing St. Matthias by lot is the
subject of a mediocre picture by Boschi.
St. Denis says that the apostles were
directed in their choice by a beam of
divine splendour, for it were impious to
suppose that such an election was made
by chance. In this picture of Boschi, a
ray of light falls from heaven on the
liead of St. Matthias.

There is a figure of this apostle by
Cosimo Koselli, holding a sword bj the
point : what might be the intention of
that capricious painter it is now impos-
sible to guess.^ Separate pictures of St.

S3 St. Matthias. (Raphael.) Matthias are very rare, and he is seldom

included in sets of the apostles.

1 Matt. xiii. 55; Mark xv. 40. ^ p]. Gal. ^ yi Acad.

JUDAS ISCARIOT. S55

Judas Tscariot.

Ital. Giuda Scariota. Fr. Judas Iscariote.

The very name of Judas Iscariot has become a by-word ; his person
and character an eternal type of impiety, treachery, and ingratitude.
We shudder at the associations called up by his memory ; his crime,
without a name, so distances all possible human turpitude, that he
cannot even be held forth as a terror to evil-doers ; we set him aside
as one cut off; we never think of him but in reference to the sole
and unequalled crime recorded of him. Not so our ancestors ; one
should have lived in the Middle Ages, to conceive the profound, the
ever-present, horror with which Judas Iscariot was then regarded.
The devil himself did not inspire the same passionate hatred and
indignation. Being the devil, what could he be but devilish ? His
wickedness was according to his infernal nature : but the crime of
Judas remains the perpetual shame and reproach of our humanity.
The devil betrayed mankind, but Judas betrayed his God.

The Gospels are silent as to the life of Judas before he became
an apostle, but our progenitors of the Middle Ages, who could not
conceive it possible that any being, however perverse, would rush at
once into such an abyss of guilt, have filled up the omissions of
Scripture after their own fancy. They picture Judas as a wretch
foredoomed from the beginning of the world, and prepared by a long
course of vice and crime for that crowning guilt which filled the
measure full. According to this legend, he was of the tribe of
Reuben. Before his mother brought him forth, she dreamed that
the son who lay in her womb would be accursed, that he would
murder his father, commit incest with his mother, and sell his God.
Terrified at her dream, she took counsel with her husband, and

256 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

they agreed to avert the threatened calamity by exposing the child.
As in the story of (Edipus, from which, indeed, this strange wild
legend seems partly borrowed, the means taken to avert the
threatened curse caused its fulfilment. Judas, at his birth, is en-
closed in a chest, and flung into the sea ; the sea casts him up, and,
being found on the shore, he is fostered by a certain king and queen
as their own son ; they have, however, another son, whom Judas,
malignant from his birth, beats and oppresses, and at length kills
in a quarrel over a game at chess. He then flies to Judea, where
he enters the service of Pontius Pilate as page. In due time
he commits the other monstrous crimes to which he was predes-
tined; and when he learns from his mother the secret of his birth,
he is filled with a sudden contrition and terror ; he hears of the
])rophet who has power on earth to forgive sins ; and seeking out
Christ throws himself at His feet. Our Saviour, not deceived, but
seeing in him the destined betrayer, and that all things may be
accomplished, accepts him as His apostle : he becomes the seneschal
or steward of Christ, bears the purse, and provides for the common
wants. In this position, avarice, the only vice to which he was not
yet addicted, takes possession of his soul, and makes the corruption
complete. Through avarice he grudges every penny given to the
poor, and when Mary Magdalene anoints the feet of our Lord he is
full of wrath at what he considers the waste of the precious perfume :
' Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given
to the poor ? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but be-
cause he was a thief.' Through avarice, he yields to the bribe
offered by the Jews. Then follow the scenes of the betrayal of
Christ, and the late repentance and terrible suicide of the traitor, as
recorded in Scripture. But in the old Mystery of the ' Passion of
Christ' the repentance and fate of Judas are very dramatically
worked out, and with all possible circumstances of horror. When
he beholds the mild Saviour before the judgment-seat of Herod, he
repents : Remorse, who figures as a real personage, seizes on the
fated wretch, and torments him till in his agony he invokes De-
spair. Despair appears, almost in the guise of the ' accursed wight '
in Spenser, and, with like arguments, urges him to make away with
liis life: —

JUDAS ISCARIOT. 257

And brings unto him swords, rope, poison, fire,

And all that might him to perdition draw.

And bids him choose what death he would desire.

Or in the more homely language of the old French mystery —

II faut que tu passes le pas !
Voici dagues et coutelas,
Forcettes, poinyons, allumettes, —
Avise, choisis les plus belles,
Et celles de meilleure forge.
Pour te couper h. coup la gorge ;
Ou si tu aimes mieux te pendre,
Voici lacs et cordes h vendre.

The offer here of the bodkins and the allumettes reminds us of the
speech of Falconbridge : —

If thou would'st drown thyself,
Put but a little water in a spoon,
And it shall be as all the ocean,
Enough to stifle such a villain up,

Judas chooses the rope, and hangs himself forthwith ; ' and fall-
ing headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels
gushed out : ' which account is explained by an early tradition, that
being found and cut down, his body was thrown over the parapet of
the Temple into the ravine below, and, in the fall, was riven and
dashed to pieces.

There required but one more touch of horror to complete the
picture ; and this is furnished by a sonnet of Giani, which I remember
to have read in my youth. When Judas falls from the fatal tree,
his evil genius seizes the broken rope, and drags him down to the
seething abyss below : at his approach, hell sends forth a shout of
rejoicing; Lucifer smooths his brow, corrugated with fire and pain,
and rises from his burning throne to welcome a greater sinner than
himself: —

Poi fra le braccia incatenb quel tristo,

E colla bocca sfavillante e nera

Gli rese il bacio ch' avea dato a Christo !

The retribution imaged in the last two lines borders, I am afraid;
a concetto ; but it makes one shiver, notwithstanding.

VOL. I. K K

568 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

Separate representations of the figure or of the life of Judas Iscariot
are not, of course, to be looked for ; they would have been regarded
as profane, as ominous, — worse than the evil-eye. In those Scripture
scenes in which he finds a place, it was the aim of the early artists
to give him a countenance as hateful, as expressive of treachery,
meanness, malignity, as their skill could compass, — the Italians
having depended more on expression, the German and Spanish
painters on form. We have a conviction, that if the man had really
worn such a look, such features, he would have been cast out from the
company of the apostles ; the legend already referred to says ex-
pressly that Judas w^as of a comely appearance, and was recommended
to the service of Pontius Pilate by his beauty of person : but the
painters, speaking to the people in the language of form, were right
to admit of no equivocation. The same feeling which induced them
to concentrate on the image of the Demon all they could conceive of
hideous and repulsive, made them picture the exterior of Judas as
deformed and hateful as the soul within ; and, by an exaggeration
of the Jewish cast of features combined with red hair and beard, they
flattered themselves that they had attained the desired object. But
as if this were not enough, the ancient painters, particularly in the
old illuminations, and in Byzantine Art, represent Judas as directly
and literally possessed by the Devil : sometimes it is a little black
demon seated on his shoulder, and whispering in his ear ; some-
times entering his mouth : thus, in their simplicity, rendering the
words of the Gospel, ' Then entered Satan into Judas.'

The colour proper to the dress of Judas is a dirty dingy yellow ;
and in Spain this colour is so intimately associated with the image
of the arch-traitor, as to be held in universal dislike : both in Spain
and in Italy, malefactors and galley-slaves are clothed in yellow.^
At Venice the Jews were obliged to wear yellow hats.

* See Ford's 'Handbook of Spain ; ' also Goethe's ' Theory of Colours,' translated by Sir
C. Eastlake. 'When a yellow colour is communicated to dull and coarse surfaces, such
as common cloth, felt, or the like, on which it does not appear with full energy, the dis-
agreeable effect alluded to is apparent. By a slight and scarcely perceptible change, the
beautiful impression of fire and gold is transformed into one not undeserving the epithet
foul, and the colour of honour and joy reversed to that of ignominy and aversion. To
this impression, the yellow hats of bankrupts, and the yellow circles on the mantles of
Jews, may have owed their origin.' — (P. 308.)

JUDAS ISCARIOT. jrj

In some of the Scriptural scenes in which Judas is mentioned or
supposed to be present, it is worth while to remark whether the
painter has passed him over as spoiling the harmony of the sacred
composition by his intrusive ugliness and wickedness, or has rendered
him conspicuous by a distinct and characteristic treatment. In a
picture by Niccolo Frumenti^ of the Magdalene at the feet of our
Saviour, Judas stands in the foreground, looking on with a most
diabolical expression of grudging malice mingled with scorn; he
seems to grind his teeth as he says, ' To what purpose is this waste?'
In Perugino's beautiful picture of the washing the feet of the dis-
ciples,^ Judas is at once distinguished, looking askance with a wicked
sneer on his face, which is not otherwise ugly. In Raphael's com-
position of the Magdalene anointing the feet of Christ, Judas leans
across the table with an angry look of expostulation.

Those subjects in which Judas Iscariot appears as a principal per-
sonage follow here.

1. Angelico da Fiesole.^ He is bribed by the Jews. The high
priest pays into the hand of Judas the thirty pieces of silver. They
are standing before a doorway on some steps; Judas is seen in
profile, and has the nimbus as one of the apostles : three persons are
behind, one of whom expresses disapprobation and anxiety. In this
subject, and in others wherein Judas is introduced, Angelico has not
given him ugly and deformed features ; but in the scowling eye and
bent brow there is a vicious expression.

In Dticcio's series of the ' Passion of our Saviour,' in the Duomo
at Siena, he has, in this and in other scenes, represented Judas with
regular and not ugly features ; but he has a villanous, and at the
same time anxious, expression ; — he has a bad conscience.

The scene between Judas and the high-priest is also given by
Schalken as a candle-light effect, and in the genuine Dutch style.

2. ' Judas betrays his Master with a kiss.' This subject will be
noticed at large in the Life of Christ. The early Italians, in giving
this scene with much dramatic power, never forgot the Scriptural
dignity required ; while the early Germans, in their endeavour to
render Judas as odious in physiognomy as in heart, have, in this as
in many other instances, rendered the awful and the pathetic merely

1 Fl. Gal. « Manfrini P., Venice. =* Fl. Acad.

260 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

grotesque. We must infer from Scripture, that Judas with all hia
perversity, had a conscience : he would not else have hanged him-
self. In the physiognomy given to him by the old Germans, there
is no trace of this ; he is an ugly malignant brute, and nothing
more.

3. Rembrandt. ' Judas throws down the thirty pieces of silver in
the Temple, and departs.' ^

4. * The remorse of Judas.' He is seated and in the act of putting
the rope about his neck ; beside him is seen the purse and the money,
scattered about the ground. The design is by Bloemart, and from
the Latin inscription underneath, appears to be intended as a warn-
ing to all unrighteous dealers.

5. ' Judas hanging on a tree ' is sometimes introduced into the
background, in ancient pictures of the Deposition and the Entomb-
ment : there is one in the Frankfort Museum.

6. ' Demons toss the soul of Judas from hand to hand in the
manner of a ball : ' in an old French miniature.^ This is sufficiently
grotesque in representation ; yet, in the idea, there is a restless,
giddy horror which thrills us. At all events, it is better than placing
Judas between the jaws of Satan with his legs in the air, as Dante
has done, and as Orcagna in his Dantesque fresco has very literally
rendered the description of the poet.^

^ In the gillery of Lord Charlemont, Dublin. 2 MS., No. 7206, Bib. du Roi.

^ Florence, S. Maria Novella. It is clear that the extravagant legends which refer to
Judas Iscariot were the inventions of the Middle Ages, and are as little countenanced by
the writings of the early fathers as by the Gospels. Eusebius says, that ' Christ gave like
gifts to Judas with the other apostles ; that once our Saviour had good hopes of him on
account of the power of the free will, for Judas was not of such a nature as rendered his
salvation impossible ; like the other apostles, he might have been instructed by the Son of
God, and might have been a sincere and good disciple.' (Quoted in Lardner, vol. viii. p.
77. ) The Mahometans believe that Christ did not die, tliat He ascended alive into heaven,
and that Judas was crucified in His likeness. — (Curzon, p. 185.)

' /^'/laAt^.day ^-^./v,^

V//^^-^-

t^l^i^/ifiy^C

THE LAST SUPPER. 261

The Last Supper.

Ital. II Cenacolo, La Cena. Fi\ La Cfene. Gei\ Das Abendmal Christl.

I HAVE already mentioned the principal scenes in which the Twelve
always appear together ; there is, however, one event belonging
properly to the Life of Christ, so important in itself, presenting the
Apostles under an aspect so peculiar, and throwing so much interest
around them collectively and individually, that I must bring it
under notice here.

Kext to the Crucifixion, there is no subject taken from the history
of our redemption so consecrated in Art as the Last Supper. The
awfal signification lent to it by Protestants as well as Catholics has
given it a deep religious import, and caused its frequent representa-
tion in churches ; it has been, more particularly, the appropriate
decoration of the refectories of convents, hospitals, and other insti-
tutions having a sacred character. In our Protestant churches it is
generally the subject of the altar-piece, where we have one.

Besides being one of the most important and interesting, it is one
of the most difficult among the sacred subjects treated in Art. While
the fixed number of personages introduced, the divine and paramount
dignity of One among them, the well-known character of all, have
limited the invention of the artist, they have tasked to the utmost
his power of expression. The occasion, that of a repast eaten by
twelve persons, is, under its material aspect, so commonplace, and,
taken in the spiritual sense, so awful, that to elevate himself to the
height of his theme, while keeping the ideal conscientiously bounded
within its frame of circumstance, demanded in the artist aspirations
of the grandest order, tempered by the utmost sobriety of reflection ;
and the deepest insight into the springs of character, combined with
the most perfect knowledge of the indications of character as mani-
fested through form. On the other hand, if it has been difficult to
succeed, it has been equally difficult to fail signally and completely ;
because the spectator is not here, as in the crucifixion, in danger of

262 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

being perpetually shocked, by the intrusion of anomalous incidents,
and is always ready to supply the dignity and meaning of a scene so
familiar in itself out of his own mind and heart. It has followed,
that mediocrity has been more prevalent and more endurable in this
than in any other of the more serious subjects of Art. But where
excellence has been in some few instances attained, it has been
attained in such a supreme degree, that these examples have become
a perpetual source of contemplation and of emulation, and rank
among the most renowned productions of human genius.

But, before I come to consider these analytically, it is necessary to
premise one or two observations, which will assist us to discrimina-
tion in the general treatment.

Pictures and works of Art, which represent the Last Supper of our
Lord, admit of the same classification which I have adhered to gene-
rally throughout this work. Those which represent it as a religious
mystery must be considered as devotional ; those which represent it
merely as a scene in the passion of our Saviour are historical. In
the first, we have the spiritual origin of the Eucharist; in the
second, the highly dramatic detection of Judas. It is evident that
the predominating motif in each must be widely different. In
paintings which are intended for the altar, or for the chapels of the
Holy Sacrament, we have the first, the mystical version ; — it is the
distribution of the spiritual food. In the second form, as the Last
Supper eaten by Christ with His disciples, as leading the mind to
an humble and grateful sense of His sacrifice, as repressing all sin-
ful indulgence in food, it has been the subject chosen to decorate
the refectory or common dining-room of convents.

It is curious that on the Christian sarcophagi the Last Supper does
not occur. There is, in the Vatican, a rude painting taken from the
catacombs representing twelve persons in a semicircle, with some-
thing like plates and dishes before them. I could not determine
whether this was our Saviour and His apostles, or merely one of those
feasts or suppers instituted by the early Christians called Agap(E or
love-feasts ; but I should think the latter.

On the Dalmatica (deacon's robe) preserved in the sacristy of the
Vatican, there is, if the date be exact (a.d. 795), the most ancient
representation I have seen of the institution of the Sacrament. The

THE LAST SUPPER. 283

embroidery, which is wonderfully beautiful, is a copy from Byzantine
Art. On one side, our Saviour stands by a table or altar, and pre-
sents the cup to His apostles, one of whom approaches in a
reverential attitude, and with his hands folded in his robe ; on the
other side, Christ presents the wafer or host : so that we have the
two separate moments in separate groups.

There exists in the Duomo of Lodi the most ancient sculptural
example of this subject I have met with ; it is a bas-relief of the
twelfth century, dated 1163, and fixed in the wall to the left of the
entrance. Christ and the apostles are in a straight row, all very
much alike ; six of the apostles lay their hands on their breast, —
* Lord, is it I ? ' and Christ presents the sop to Judas, who sits in
front, and is as ugly as possible.

Although all the Byzantine pictures of the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries which have come under my notice represent Christ break-
ing the bread or holding the cup, that is, the institution of the
Sacrament, the Greek formula published by Didron distinguishes
between this scene and that of the repast in which Judas is de-
nounced as a traitor. The earliest representation to which I can
refer in Western Art, as taking the historical form, is the Cenacolo
of Giotto, the oldest and the most important that has been preserved
to us ; it was painted by him in the refectory of the convent of
Santa Croce at Florence. This refectory, when I visited it in 1847,
was a carpet manufactory, and it was difficult to get a good view of
the fresco by reason of the intervention of the carpet-looms. It
has been often restored, and is now in a bad state ; still, enough
remains to understand the original intention of the artist, and that
arrangement which has since been the groundwork of similar com-
positions.

A long table extends across the picture from side to side : in the
middle, and fronting the spectator, sits the Redeemer ; to the right,
St. John, his head reclining on the lap of Christ : next to him, Peter;
after Peter, St. James Major ; thus placing together the three
favourite disciples. Next to St. James, St. Matthew, St. Bartholo-
mew, and a young beardless apostle, probably St. Philip.

On the left hand of our Saviour is St. Andrew ; and next to him,
St. James Minor (the two St. Jameses bearing the traditional re-

264 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

semblance to Christ) ; then St. Simon and St. Jude ; and lastly, a
young apostle, probably St. Thomas. (The reader will have the
goodness to recollect that I give this explanation of the names and
position of the eleven apostles as my own, and with due deference to
the opinion of those who on a further study of the fresco may differ
from me.) Opposite to the Saviour, and on the near side of the
table, sits Judas, apart from the rest, and in the act of dipping his
hand into the dish. It is evident that the moment chosen by the
artist is, ' He that dippeth with me in the dish, the same shall betray
me.'

Although the excuse may be found in the literal adoption of the
words of the Gospel, ^ it appears to me a fault to make St. John leaning,
as one half asleep, on the lap of our Saviour, after such words have
been uttered as must have roused, or at least ought to have roused,
the young and beloved apostle from his supine attitude ; therefore, we
may suppose that Christ is about to speak the words, but has not yet
spoken them. The position of Judas is caused by the necessity of
placing him sufficiently near to Christ to dip his hand in the same
dish ; while to have placed him on the same side of the table, so as to
give him the precedence over the more favoured disciples, would have
appeared to the early artists nothing less than profane. Giotto has .
paid great attention to the heads, which are individually characterised,
but there is little dramatic expression ; the attention is not yet di-
rected to Judas, who is seen in profile, looking up, not ugly in feature,
but with a mean vicious countenance, and bent shoulders.

The arrangement of the table and figures, so peculiarly fitted for
a refectory, has been generally adopted since the time of Giotto in
pictures painted for this especial purpose. The subject is placed on
the upper wall of the chamber ; the table extending from side to side :
the tables of the monks are placed, as in the dining-rooms of our
colleges, length- ways ; thus all can behold the divine assembly, and
Christ appears to preside over and sanctify the meal.

In another Cenacolo by Giotto,^ which forms one of the scenes in the
history of Christ, he has given us a totally different version of the

^ The Greek expression, 'leaning on His bosom, or on His lap,' is not, I believe, to be
taken literally, being used to signify an intimate and affectionate intercourse.
' Florence Acad.

THE LAST SUPPER.

subject ; and, not being intended for a refectory, but as an action or
event, it is more dramatic. It is evident tliat our Saviour has just
uttered the words, ' He that dippeth with me in the dish, the same
shall betray me.' Judas, who has mean, ugly, irregular features,
looks up alarmed, and seems in the act of rising to escape. One
apostle (Philip, I think) points at him, and the attention of all is
more or less directed to him. This would be a fault if the subject
were intended for a refectory, or to represent the celebration of
the Eucharist. But here, where the subject is historical, it is a
propriety.

The composition of Duccio of Siena, in the Duomo at Siena, must
have been nearly contemporary with, if it did not precede, those
of Giotto (a.d. 1308) ; it is quite different, quite original in motif smd
arrangement. Seven apostles sit on the same side with Christ, and
five opposite to Him, turning their backs on the spectator ; the faces
are seen in profile. The attitude of St. John, leaning against our
Saviour with downcast eyes, is much more graceful than in the com-
position of Giotto. St. Peter is on the right of Christ ; next to him
St. James Minor : two young apostles sit at the extreme ends of the
table, whom I suppose to be St. Philip and St. Thomas : the other
apostles I am unable to discriminate, with the exception of Judas,
who, with regular features, has a characteristic scowl on his brow.
Christ holds out a piece of bread in His hand : two of the apostles
likewise hold bread, and two others hold a cup ; the rest look
attentive or pensive, but the general character of the heads is defi-
cient in elevation. The moment chosen may be the distribution of
the bread and wine ; but, to me, it rather expresses the commence-
ment of the meal, and our Saviour's address : ' With desire have I
desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer' (Luke xxii.
15). The next compartment of the same series, which represents the
apostles seated in a group before Christ, and listening with upturned
faces and the most profound attention to His last words, has much
more of character, solemnity, and beauty, than the Last Supper.
Judas is here omitted ; ' for he, having received the sop, went imme-
diately out.'

Angelico da Fiesole, in his Life of Christ, has been careful to dis-
tinguish between the detection of Judas and the institution of the

VOL. I. I, L

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

Eucharist.^ He has given us botli scenes. In the first compartment,
John is leaning down with his face to the Saviour ; the back of his
head only is seen, and he appears too unmindful of what is going
forward. The other apostles are well discriminated, the usual type
strictly followed in Peter, Andrew, James Major and James Minor.
To the right of Christ are Peter, Andrew, Bartholomew ; to the left,
James Minor. Four turn their backs, and two young apostles
stand on each side, — I presume Thomas and Philip ; they seem to be
waiting on the rest : Judas dips his hand in the dish. I suppose the
moment to be the same as in the composition of Duccio.

But in the next compartment the motif is different. All have risen
from table ; it is no longer a repast, it is a sacred mystery ; Christ
is in the act of administering the bread to St. John ; all kneel ; and
Judas is seen kneeling behind Christ, near an open door, and apart
from the rest, as if he were watching for the opportunity to escape.
To dispose of Judas in this holy ceremony is always a difficulty. To
represent him as receiving with the rest the sacred rite is an offence
to the pious. The expression used by St. John (xii. 30), * After he
had received the sop he went out,' implies that Judas was not present
at the Lord's Supper, which succeeded the celebration of the paschal
supper. St. Luke and St. Mark, neither of whom were present,
leave us to suppose that Judas partook, with the other disciples, of
the mystic bread and wine ; yet we can hardly believe that, after
having been pointed out as the betrayer, the conscience-stricken
Judas should remain to receive the Eucharist. Sometimes he is
omitted altogether ;- sometimes he is stealing out at the door. In
the composition of Luca Signorelli, which I saw at Cor ton a, all the
twelve apostles are kneeling; Christ is distributing the wafer; and
Judas, turning away with a malignant look, puts his wafer into his
satchel. In the composition of Palmezzano, in the Duomo at Forli,
our Saviour stands, holding a plate, and is in the act of presenting
the wafer to Peter, who kneels : St. John stands by the side of Christ,
holding the cup " Judas is in the background ; he kneels by the door,
and seems to be watching for the opportunity to steal away.
^ The fine composition, fine also in sentiment and character, of Ghir-

^ In the series of compositions from the Life of Christ, now in the Academy at Florence ;
beautifully and faithfully engraved by P. Nocchi.

THE LAST SUPPER. 267

landajo, was painted for the small refectory in the San Marco at
Florence. The arrangement is ingenious ; the table is of what we
call the horse-shoe form, which allows all the figm-es to face the
spectator ; and at the same time takes up less room than where the
table runs across the picture from side to side. Judas sits in front,
alone ; Christ has just designated him. ' He it is to whom I shall
give the sop when I have dipped it ' (John xiii. 26). Judas holds
the sop in his hand, with an alarmed conscious look. Behind sits an
ill-omened cat, probably intended for the fiend. John, to the left of
Christ, appears to have swooned away. The other apostles express, in
various ways, amazement and horror.

It has been a question among critics, whether the purse ought to
be placed in the hand of Judas when present at the Last Supper,
because it is usually understood as containing the thirty pieces of
silver : but this is a mistake ; and it leads to the mistake of repre-
senting him as hiding the purse, as if it contained the price of his
treachery. Judas carries the purse openly, for he was the steward,
or purse-bearer, of the party : ' he had the bag, and bare what was
put therein ' (John xii. 6, xiii. 29) : and as the money-bag is also
the attribute of St. Matthew the tax-gatherer, we must take care not
to confound him with the traitor and thief. This brings me to the
consideration of the subject as treated by Albert Diirer.

In the series of large woodcuts from the Passion of our Saviour
(styled ' La grande Passion '), the Cenacolo is an event, and not a
mystery. John, as a beautiful youth, is leaning against our Saviour
with downcast eyes ; he does not look as if he had thrown himself
down half asleep, but as if Christ had put His arm around him, and
drawn and pressed him fondly towards Him. On the right is Peter :
the other apostles are not easily discriminated, but they have all that
sort oi grandiose ugliness which is so full of character, and so parti-
cularly the characteristic of the artist : the apostle seated in front
in a cowering attitude, holding the purse which he seems anxious to
conceal, and looking up apprehensively, I suppose to be Judas.

In the smaller sets of woodcuts {'La petite Passion ') I believe
the apostle with the purse in the foreground to be St. Matthew;
while the ugly, lank-haired personage behind Christ, who looks as
if about to steal away, is probably intended for Judas : one of the

268 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

apostles has laid hold of him, and seems to say, ' Thou art the
man !

There is a third Cenacolo, by Albert Diirer, which plainly repre-
sents the Eucharist. The cup only is on the table, and Judas is
omitted.

In a Cenacolo by another old German, Judas is in the act of receiv-
ing the sop which Christ is putting into his mouth ; and at the same
time he is hiding the purse : — a mistake, as I have already observed.

These examples must suffice to give some idea of the manner in
which this subject was generally treated by the earlj^ German and
Italian artists. But, whether presented before us as a dramatic
scene expressing individual character, or as an historical event
memorable in the life of Christ, or as a religious rite of awful and
mysterious import — all the examples I have mentioned are in some
respects deficient. "We have the feeling, that, whatever may be the
merit in sentiment, in intention, in detail, what has been attempted
has not been achieved.

When Leonardo da Yinci, the greatest thinker as well as the
greatest painter of his age, brought all the resources of his wonderful
mind to bear on the subject, then sprang forth a creation so consum-
mate, that since that time it has been at once the wonder and the
despair of those who have followed in the same path. True, the
work of his hand is perishing — will soon have perished utterly. I
remember well, standing before this wreck of a glorious presence,
so touched by its pale, shadowy, and yet divine significance, and by
its hopelessly impending ruin, that the tears sprang involuntarily.
Fortunately for us, multiplied copies have preserved at least .the
intention of the artist in his work. We can judge of what it has
been, and take that for our text and for our theme.

The purpose being the decoration of a refectory in a rich convent,
the chamber lofty and spacious, Leonardo has adopted the usual
arrangement : the table runs across from side to side, filling up the
whole extent of the wall, and the figures, being above the eye, and
to be viewed from a distance, are colossal ; they would otherwise
have appeared smaller than the real personages seated at the tables

THE LAST SUPPER.

below. The moment selected is the utterance of the words, ^ Yerily,
verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me : ' or rather
the words have just been uttered, and the picture expresses their
effect on the different auditors. It is of these auditors, his apostles,
that I have to speak, and not of Christ himself; for the full con-
sideration of the subject, as it regards Him^ must be deferred ; the
intellectual elevation, the fineness of nature, the benign God-like
dignity, suffused with the profoundest sorrow, in this divine head,
surpassed all I could have conceived as possible in Art ; and, faded
as it is, the character there, being stamped on it by the soul, not
the hand, of the artist, will remain while a line or hue remains
visible. It is a divine shadow, and, until it fades into nothing, and
disappears utterly, will have the lineaments of divinity. Next to
Christ is St. John; he has just been addressed by Peter, who beckons
to him that he should ask ' of whom the Lord spake : ' — his dis-
consolate attitude, as he has raised himself to reply, and leans his
clasped hands on the table, the almost feminine sweetness of his
countenance, express the character of this gentle and amiable apostle.
Peter, leaning from behind, is all fire and energy ; Judas, who knows
full well of whom the Saviour spake, starts back amazed, oversetting
the salt ; his fingers clutch the bag, of which he has the charge,
with that action which Dante describes as characteristic of the
avaricious : —

Questi risurgeranno dal sepolcro
Col pugno chiuso.

These from the tomb with clenched grasp shall rise.

His face is seen in profile, and cast into shadow ; without being
vulgar, or even ugly, it is hateful. St. Andrew, with his long grey
beard, lifts up his hands, expressing the wonder of a simple-hearted
old man. St. James Minor, resembling the Saviour in his mild
features, and the form of his beard and hair, lays his hand on the
shoulder of St. Peter — the expression is, ' Can it be possible ? Have
we heard aright?' Bartholomew, at the extreme end of the table,
has risen perturbed from his seat ; he leans forward with a look of
eager attention, the lips parted ; he is impatient to hear more. (The
fine copy of Uggione, in the Royal Academy, does not give this

270 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

anxious look — he is attentive only.) On the left of our Saviour is
St. James Major, who has also a family resemblance to Christ ; his
arms are outstretched, he shrinks hack, he repels the thought with
horror. The vivacity of the action and expression are wonderfully
true and characteribtic. (Morghen, the engraver, erroneously sup-
posed this to represent St. Thomas, and placed on the border of his
robe an inscription fixing the identity ; which inscription, as Bossi
asserts, never did exist in the original picture.) St. Thomas is
behind St. James, rather young, with a short beard ; he holds up
his hand, threatening — ^ If there be indeed such a wretch, let him
look to it.' Philip, young and with a beautiful head, lays his hand
on his heart ; he protests his love, his truth. Matthew, also beard-
less, has more elegance, as one who belonged to a more educated
class than the rest ; he turns to Jude and points to our Saviour, as if
about to repeat His words, ' Do you hear what He says ? ' Simon and
Jude sit together (Leonardo has followed the tradition which makes
them old and brothers) ; Jude expresses consternation ; Simon, with
his hands stretched out, a painful anxiety.

To understand the wonderful skill with which this composition has
been arranged, it ought to be studied long and minutely ; and, to
appreciate its relative excellence, it ought to be compared with other
productions of the same period. Leonardo has contrived to break
the formality of the line of heads without any apparent artifice, and
without disturbing the grand simplicity of the usual order; and he
has vanquished the difficulties in regard to the position of Judas,
without making him too prominent. He has imparted to a solemn
scene sufficient movement and variety of action, without detracting
from its dignity and pathos ; he has kept the expression of each head
true to the traditional character, without exaggeration, without effort.
To have done this, to have been the first to do this, required the far-
reaching philosophic mind, not less than the excelling hand, of this
' miracle of nature,' as Mr Hallam styles Leonardo, with reference
to his scientific as well as his artistic pov/ers.

And now to turn to another miracle of nature, Raphael. He has
given us three compositions for the Last Supper. The fresco lately

THE LAST SUPPER. 271

discovered in the refectory of Sant' Onofrio, at Florence, is an early
work painted in his twenty-third year (a.d. 1505). The authenticity
of this picture has been vehemently disputed ; for myself — as far as
my opinion is worth anything — I never, after the first five minutes,
had a doubt on the subject. As to its being the work of Neri de'
Bicci, I do not believe it possible ; and as for the written documents
brought forward to prove this, I turn from them to ' the handwriting
on the wall,' and there I see, in characters of light, Raphael — and
kirn only. It is, however, a youthful work, full of sentiment and
grace, but deficient, it appears to me, in that depth and discrimina-
tion of character displayed in his later works. It is evident that he
had studied Giotto's fresco in the neighbouring Santa Croce. The
arrangement is nearly the same.

Christ is in the centre ; His right hand is raised, and He is about
to speak; the left hand is laid, with extreme tenderness in the
attitude and expression, on the shoulder of John, who reclines upon
Him. To the right of Christ is St. Peter, the head of the usual
character ; next to him St. Andrew, with the flowing grey hair and
long divided beard : St. James Minor, the head declined resembling
Christ : he holds a cup. St. Philip is seen in profile with a white
beard : (this is contrary to the received tradition, which makes him
young ; and I doubt the correctness of this appellation). St. James
Major, at the extreme end of the table, looks out of the picture ;
Raphael has apparently represented himself in this apostle. On
the left of Christ, after St. John, is St. Bartholomew ; he holds a
knife, and has the black beard and dark complexion usually given
to him. Then Matthew, something like Peter, but milder and more
refined. Thomas, young and handsome, pours wine into a cup ,
last, on the right, are Simon and Jude : Raphael has followed the
tradition which supposes them young, and the kinsmen of our
Saviour. Judas sits on a stool on the near side of the table, oppo-
site to Christ, and while he dips his hand into the dish he looks
round to the spectators ; he has the Jewish features, red hair and
beard, and a bad expression. All have glories; but the glory round
the head of Judas is much smaller than the others.^

^ This is also observable in the Last Supper by Nicol6 Petri in the San Francesoo
at Pisa.

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

In the second composition, one of the series of the Life of Christ,
in the Loggie of the Vatican, Raphael has placed the apostles round
a table, four on each of the three sides : our Saviour presiding in
the centre. John and Peter, who are, as usual, nearest to Christ,
look to Him with an animated appealing expression. Judas is in
front, looking away from the rest, and as if about to rise. The
other heads are not well discriminated, nor is the moment well ex-
pressed : there is, indeed, something confused and inharmonious,
unlike Eaphael, in the whole composition. I pass it over, therefore,
without further remark, to come to the third example — a masterpiece
of his later years, worthy as a composition of being compared with
Leonardo's ; but, never having been painted, we can only pronounce
it perfect as far as it goes. The original drawing enriches the col-
lection of the Queen of England : the admirable engraving of Marc
Antonio, said to have been touched by Eaphael, is before me while
I write. From the disposition of the unshod feet as seen under the
table, it is styled by collectors HI jpezzo dei piedi:'' from the arrange-
ment of the table and figures it was probably designed for a refectory.

In the centre is Christ, with both hands resting on the table ; in
the head, a melancholy resignation. Peter is on the right, his hand
on his breast. John, on the left, places both hands on his breast,
with a most animated expression, — 'You cannot believe it is I?'
Andrew.has laid his hand on the shoulder of Peter, and leans forward
with a sad interrogative expression. The head of Judas has features
akin to those of the antique satyr, with the look askance of a detected
villain : he has heard the words, but he dares not meet the eye, of
his Divine Master : he has no purse. James Minor, next to John,
with his hands extended, seems to speak sadly to Philip: 'And
they began to inquire among themselves, which of them should do
this thing ? ' The whole composition is less dramatic, has less variety
of action and attitude, than that of Leonardo, but is full of deep
melancholy feeling.

The Cenacolo of Andrea del Sarto, in the Convent of the Salvi
near Florence, takes, I believe, the third rank after those of Leonardo
and Raphael. He has chosen the self-same moment, ' One of you
shall betray me.' The figures are, as usual, ranged on one side of a

THE LAST SUPPER. 273

long table. Christ, in the centre, holds a piece of bread in His hand ;
on His left is St. John, and on His right St. James Major, both seen
in profile. The face of St. John expresses interrogation ; that of St.
James, interrogation and a start of amazement. Next to St. James
are Peter, Thomas, Andrew ; then Philip, who has a small cross upon
his breast. After St. John come James Minor, Simon, Jude, Judas
Iscariot, and Bartholomew. Judas, with his hands folded together,
leans forward, and looks down, with a round mean face, in which
there is no power of any kind, not even of malignity. In passing
almost immediately from the Cenacolo in the St. Onofrio to that in
the Salvi, we feel strongly all the difference between the mental and
moral superiority of Raphael at the age of twenty, and the artistic
greatness of Andrea in the maturity of his age and talent. This
fresco deserves its high celebrity. It is impossible to look on it
without admiration, considered as a work of Art. The variety of
the attitudes, the disposition of the limbs beneath the table, the
ample, tasteful draperies, deserve the highest praise ; but the heads
are deficient in character and elevation, and the whole composition
wants that solemnity of feeling proper to the subject.

The Cenacolo of Titian, painted for Philip II. for the altar of his
chapel in the Escurial, is also a notable example of the want of
proper reverential feeling : two servants are in attendance ; Judas
is in front, averting his head, which is in deep shadow; a dog is
under the table, and the Holy Ghost is descending from above.

Niccolo Poussin has three times painted the Cenacolo. In the two
series of the Seven Sacraments, he has, of course, represented the in-
stitution of the Eucharist, as proper to his subject; in both instances,
in that pure and classical taste proper to himself. In the best and
largest composition, the apostles are reclining on couches round the
table. Christ holds a plate full of bread, and appears as saying,
' Take, eat.' Four are putting the morsel into their mouths. Judas
is seen behind, with an abject look, stealing out of the room.

The faults which I have observed in pictures of this subject are
chiefly met with in the Venetian, Flemish, and later Bolognese
schools. When the motif selected is the institution of the Eucharist,

VOL. I. MM

274 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

it is a fault to sacrifice the solemnity and religious import of the
scene in order to render it more dramatic: it ought not to be
dramatic; but the pervading sentiment should be one. a deep and
awful reverence. When Christ is distributing the bread and wine,
the apostles should not be conversing with each other ; nor should
the figures exceed twelve in number, for it appears to me that the
introduction of Judas disturbs the sacred harmony and tranquillity
of the scene. When the motif is the celebration of the Passover, or
the detection of Judas, a more dramatic and varied arrangement is
necessary; but here, to make the apostles intent on eating and
drinking, as in some old German pictures, is a fault. Even Albauo
has represented one of the apostles as peeping into an empty wine-
pitcher with a disappointed look.

It appears to me, also, a gross fault to introduce dogs and cats,
and other animals ; although I have heard it observed, that a dog
gnawing a bone is introduced with propriety, to show that the supper
is over, the Paschal Lamb eaten, before the moment represented.

Vulgar heads, taken from vulgar models, or selected without any
regard either to the ancient types, or the traditional character of the
difierent apostles, are defects of frequent occurrence, especially in
the older German schools ; and in Titian, Paul Veronese, and
Rubens, even where the heads are otherwise fine and expressive, the
scriptural truth of character is in general sacrificed.

It is a fault, as I have already observed, to represent Judas
anxiously concealing the purse.

Holbein, in his famous Last Supper at Basle, and in the small
one in the Louvre, has adopted the usual arrangement : the heads
all want elevation ; but here the attention fixes at once upon Judas
Iscariot — the very ideal of scoundrelism — I can use no other word to
express the unmitigated ugliness, vulgarity, and brutality of the
face. Lavater has referred to it as an example of the physiognomy
proper to cruelty and avarice ; but the dissimulation is wanting.
This base, eager, hungry-looking villain stands betrayed by his own
looks : he is too prominent ; he is, in fact, the principal figure ; — a
fault in taste, feeling, and propriety.

THE LAST SUPPER. 27S

The introduction of a great number of figures, as spectators or
attendants, is a fault ; excusable, perhaps, where the subject is
decorative and intended for the wall of a refectory, but not other-
wise. In the composition of Paul Veronese, there are twenty-three
figures ; in that of Zucchero, forty -five ; in that of Baroccio, twenty-
one. These supernumerary persons detract from the dignity and
solemnity of the scene.

Tintoretto has introduced several spectators, and among them an old
woman spinning in a corner, who, while she turns her spindle, looks
on with an observant eye. This alludes to an early tradition, that
the Last Supper was eaten in the house of Mary, the mother of Mark
the evangelist. But it is nowhere said that she was present, and
therefore it is an impropriety to introduce her. Magnificent archi-
tecture, as in the picture by B. Peruzzi (who, by the way, was an archi-
tect), seems objectionable : but equally unsuitable is the poor dis-
mantled garret in this picture of Tintoretto ; for the chamber in which
the scene took place was ' the guest chamber,' a large upper room,
ready prepared ; and as it was afterwards the scene of the Pentecost,
it must have held more than a hundred persons.

It is a fault, as I have already observed, to represent John as
asleejj on the breast or the shoulder of our Saviour.

Though countenanced by the highest authorities in Art, I believe it
must be considered as a fault, or at least a mistake, to represent our
Saviour and His apostles as seated, instead of reclining round the
table. It is a fault, not merely because the use of the triclinium or
couch at all social meals was general in the antique times, — for the
custom of sitting upright was not so entirely extinct among the Jews
but that it might on any other occasion have been admissible, — but,
from peculiar circumstances, it became in this instance an impro-
priety. We know that when the Passover was first instituted the
Jews were enjoined to eat it standing, as men in haste, with girded
loins and sandalled feet ; but afterwards it was made imperative that
they should eat it in an attitude of repose, lying upon couches, and
as men at ease; and the reason for this was, that all the circum-

276 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART,

stances of the meal, and particularly the attitude in which it was
eaten, should indicate the condition of security and freedom which
the Israelites enjoyed after their deliverance from the Egyptian
bondage. In the then imperfect state of Biblical criticism, this fact
seems to have been unknown to the earlier artists, or disregarded by
those who employed and directed them. Among modern artists,
Poussin and Le Sueur have scrupulously attended to it, even when
the moment chosen is the mystical distribution of the bread and
wine which succeeded the Paschal Supper. Commentators have re-
marked, that if Christ and His disciples reclined at table, then,
supposing Christ to have the central place of honour, the head of
John would have been near to the bosom of Christ: but under these
circumstances, if Judas were sufficientlj' near to receive the sop from
the hand of Christ, then he must have reclined next to Him on the
other side, and have taken precedence of Peter. This supposed a
propinquity which the early Christian artists deemed offensive and
inadmissible.

In the composition by Stradano the arrangement of the table and
figures is particularly well managed : all recline on couches ; in the
centre of the table is a dish, to which Christ extends His hand, and
Judas, who is here rather handsome than otherwise, at the same time
stretches forth his ; the moment is evidently, * He that dippeth with
me in the dish, the same shall betray me.' Two circumstances spoil
this picture, and bring it down to the level of the vulgar and the
commonplace. In the background is seen a kitchen and the cook-
ing of the supper. Under Judas crouches a hideous demon, with
horns, hoof, and tail, visible only to the spectator.

When the Cenacolo represents the Eucharist, itis, perhaps, allowable
to introduce angels, because it was, and I believe is, an established
belief, that, visible or invisible, they are always present at the Sacra-
ment. The Holy Ghost descending from above is unsanctioned by
Scripture, but may serve to mark the mystical and peculiar solemnity
of the moment chosen for representation. It may signify, ' He that
receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent me.' But where angels attend,
or V here the Spiritual Comforter comes floating down from above, then

THE LAST SUPPER.

9.7!

the presence of Judas, or of any superfluous figures as spectators or
servitors, or of dogs or other animals, becomes a manifest impropriety.

The introduction of the Devil in person as tempting Judas is ren-
dered pardonable by the naivete of the early painters : in the later
schools of Art it is offensive and ridiculous.

The Cenacolo of Baroccio, painted by order of Clement YIII.
(1594), for his family chapel in the Santa Maria-sopra- Minerva, is
remarkable for an anecdote relating to it. Baroccio, who was not
eminent for a correct taste, had in his first sketch reverted to the
ancient fashion of placing Satan close behind Judas, whispering in
his ear, and tempting him to betray his Master. The Pope expressed
his dissatisfaction, — ' eke non gli piaeeva il demonio si dimesticasse
tanto con Gesu Crhto^ — and ordered him to remove the offensive
figure. This is not the last example of the ancient manner of treat-
ment. In the Cenacolo of Franceschini, painted nearly a century
later, two angels are attending on the sacred repast, while Judas is
in the act of leaving the room, conducted by Satan in person.

It is surely a fault, in a scene of such solemn and sacred import,
CO make the head of Judas a vehicle for public or private satire, by
giving him the features of some obnoxious personage of the time.-^
This, according to tradition, has been done in some instances. Per-
haps the most remarkable example that could be cited is the story of
Andrea del Castagno, who, after having betrayed and assassinated
his friend Domenico Yeneziano, painted himself in the character of
Judas : a curious instance of remorse of conscience.

Volumes might be written on the subject of the Last Supper. It
extends before me, as I think and write, into endless suggestive
associations, which, for the present, I dare not follow out: but I
shall have occasion to return to it hereafter.^

* For a signal example, see Stirling's * Artists of Spain,' p. 493.

* For some remarks on the subject of the Pentecost, v.
p. 325.

278 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

St. Barnabas.

/toZ. San Barnabh,. i^r. Saiat Barnab^. (June 11.)

St. Barnabas is usually entitled the Apostle Barnabas, because he
was associated with the Apostles in their high calling ; ' and,' accord-
ing to Lardner, ' though without that large measure of inspiration
and high authority which was peculiar to the Twelve Apostles,
properly so called, yet he is to be considered as Apostolical, and next
to them in sanctity.' For this reason I place him here.

St. Barnabas was a Levite, born in the island of Cyprus and the
cousin-german of Mark the evangelist. The notices of his life and
character scattered through the Acts invest him with great personal
interest. He it was who, after the conversion of Paul, was the first
to believe in his sincerity, and took courage to present him to the
other apostles, ' who were afraid of him, and would not believe that he
was a disciple' (Acts xy. 39). Barnabas afterwards became the
fellow-labourer of Paul, and attended him to Antioch. We are told
that ' he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith ; ' and
to this the legendary traditions add, that he was a man of a most
comely countenance, of a noble presence, grave and commanding in
his step and deportment ; and thence, when he and Paul were at
Lystra together, ' they called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius.'
Subsequently, however, Paul and Barnabas fell into a dispute con-
cerning Mark, and separated. The tradition relates that Barnabas
and Mark remained for some time together, being united by the ties
of friendship, as well as by those of kindred. Barnabas preached the
Gospel in Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy ; and there is an old legen-
dary tradition that he was the first Bishop of Milan. The legend also
relates that everywhere he carried with him the Gospel of St. Matthew,
written by the hand of the evangelist, preaching what was written
therein ; and when any were sick, or possessed, he laid the sacred
writing upon their bosom, and they were healed ; (a beautiful allegory
this !) and it happened that as he preached in a synagogue of Judea
against the Jews, they were seized with fury and took him, and put
him to a cruel death. But Mark and the other Christians buried
him with many tears.

ST. BARNABAS.

279

The body of St. Barnabas remained in its place of sepulture till
the dsijs of the Emperor Zeno, when, according to Nicephorus, it
was revealed in a dream to Antemius, that the apostle rested in a
certain spot, and would be found there, with the Gospel of St.
Matthew lying on his bosom. And so it happened : the remains
were found ; the Gospel was carried to the emperor at Constanti-
nople ; and a church was built, dedicated to St. Barnabas.

It is, I presume, in consequence of his being the kinsman of St.
Mark, that Barnabas is more popular at Venice than elsewhere, and
that devotional figures of him are rarely found except in Venetian
pictures. He is represented as a man of majestic presence, holding
in his hand the Gospel of St. Matthew, as in a fine picture by Boni-
fazio : in his church at Venice he is represented over the high
altar, throned as bishop, while St. Peter stands below.

He often occurs in subjects taken from the Acts and the life of St.
Paul. In the scene in which he presents Paul to the other apostles,
he is the principal personage ; but in the scene at Paphos, where
Elymas is struck blind, and at Lystra, he is always secondary to his
great companion.

Angel. (Albert Diirer.) r. p 7(

280 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

Clje ^Doctors of t\)t CI)urcf).

I. THE FOUR LATIN FATHERS.

The Evangelists and the Apostles represented in Art the Spiritual
Church, and took their place among the heavenly influences. The
great Fathers or Doctors were the representatives of the Church
Militant on earth : as teachers and pastors, as logicians and advo-
cates, they wrote, argued, contended, suffered, and at length, after
a long and fierce struggle against opposing doctrines, they fixed the
articles of faith thereafter received in Christendom. For ages, and
down to the present time, the prevailing creed has been that which
was founded on the interpretations of these venerable personages.
They have become, in consequence, frequent and important subjects
of Ai-t, particularly from the tenth century — the period when, in
their personal character, they began to be regarded not merely as
gifted and venerable, but as divinely inspired ; their writings ap-
pealed to as infallible, their arguments accepted as demonstration.
We distinguish them as the Latin and the Greek Fathers. In
Western Art, we find the Latin Fathers perpetually grouped to-
gether, or in a series : the Greek Fathers seldom occur except in
their individual character, as saints rather than as teachers.

The four Latin Doctors are St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augus-
tine, and St. Gregory. When represented together, they are gene-
rally distinguished from each other, and from the sacred personages
who may be grouped in the same picture, by their conventional
attributes. Thus St. Jerome is sometimes habited in the red hat
and crimson robes of a cardinal, with a church in his hand ; or he is
a half-naked, bald-headed, long-bearded, emaciated old man, with
eager wasted features, holding a book and pen, and attended by a
lion. St. Ambrose wears the episcopal robes as Bishop of Milan,
with mitre and crosier, and holds his book ; sometimes, also, he
carries a knotted scourge, and a bee-hive is near him. St. Augustine

THE FOUR LATIN FATHERS. jgl

is also habited as a bishop, and carries a book ; he has often books
at his feet, and sometimes a flaming heart transpierced by an arrow.
The origin and signification of these symbols I shall explain presently.

In the most ancient churches the Four Doctors are placed after
the Evangelists. In the later churches they are seen combined or
grouped with the evangelists, occasionally also with the sibyls ; but
this seems a mistake. The appropriate place of the sibyls is neither
with the evangelists nor the fathers, but among the prophets, where
Michael Angelo has placed them.

Where the principal subject is the glory of Christ, or the corona-
tion or assumption of the Virgin, the Four Fathers attend with
their books as witnesses and interpreters.

1. A conspicuous instance of this treatment is the dome of San
Giovanni at Parma. In the centre is the ascension of Christ, around
are the Twelve Apostles gazing upwards ; below them, in the spandrils
of the arches, as if bearing record, are the Four Evangelists, each
with a Doctor of the Church seated by him as interpreter : St.
Matthew is attended by St. Jerome ; St. Mark, by St. Gregory ; St.
Luke, by St. Augustine ; and St. John, by St. Ambrose.

2. A picture in the Louvre by Pier- Francesco Sacchi (a.d. 1640)
represents the Four Doctors, attended, or rather inspired, by the
mystic symbols of the Four Evangelists. They are seated at a table,
under a canopy sustained by slender pillars, and appear in deep
consultation : near St. Augustine is the eagle ; St. Gregory has the
ox ; St. Jerome, the angel ; and St. Ambrose, the lion.

3. In a well-known woodcut after Titian, ' The Triumph of Christ,'
the Redeemer is seated in a car drawn by the Four Evangelists ;
while the Four Latin Doctors, one at each wheel, put forth all their
strength to urge it on. The patriarchs and prophets precede, the
martyrs and confessors of the faith follow, in grand procession.

4. In a Coronation of the Virgin, very singularly treated, we have
Christ and the Virgin on a high platform or throne, sustained by
columns : in the space underneath, between these columns, is a group
of unwinged angels, holding the instruments of the Passion. (Or,
as I have sometimes thought, this beautiful group may be the soul,-:!

VOL. 1. N i^

282 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

of the Innocents, their proper place being under the throne of
Christ.) On each side a vast company of prophets, apostles, saints,
and martyrs, ranged tier above tier. Immediately in front, and on
the steps of the throne, are the Four Evangelists, seated each with
his symbol and book : behind them the Four Fathers, also seated.
This picture, which as a painting is singularly beautiful, the exe-
cution finished, and the heads most characteristic and expressive,
may be said to comprise a complete system of the theology of the
Middle Ages.^

5. We have the same idea carried out in the lower part of Raphael's
^ Disputa ' in the Vatican. The Four Doctors are in the centre of what
may be called the sublunar]/ part of the picture : they are the only
seated figures in the vast assembly of holy, wise, and learned men
around ; St. Gregory and St. Jerome on the right of the altar,
St. Ambrose and St. Augustine on the left. As the two latter wear
the same paraphernalia, they are distinguished by having books
scattered at their feet, on which are inscribed the titled of their
respective works.

The Madonna and Child enthroned, with the Doctors of the
Church standing on each side, is a subject which has been often, and
sometimes beautifully, treated ; and here the contrast between all we
can conceive of virginal and infantine loveliness and innocence en-
shrined in heavenly peace and glory — and these solemn, bearded,
grand-looking old Fathers, attending in humble reverence, as types
of earthly wisdom — ought to produce a magnificent efiect, when
conceived in the right spirit. I can remember, however, but few
instances in which the treatment is complete and satisfactory.

1. One of these is a picture by A. Vivarini (a.d. 1446), now in
the Academy at Venice. Here, the Virgin sits upon a throne under
a rich canopy sustained by four little angels. She looks out of the
picture with a most dignified, tranquil, goddess-like expression ; she
wears, as usual, the crimson tunic and blue mantle, the latter being
of a most brilliant azure ; on her brow a magnificent jewelled crown ;
the Divine Child stands on her knee, and raises his little hand to
bless the worshipper. To the right of the Virgin, and on the plat-

* Acad. Venice. Giovanni ed Antouio da Murano. 1440.

THE FOUR LATIN FATHERS.

form of her throne, stands St. Jerome, robed as cardinal, and bear-
ing his chm^ch ; with St. Gregory, habited as pope. To the left
stands St. Ambrose, holding his crosier and knotted scourge, and
St. Augustine with his book. This is a wonderful picture, and, as a
specimen of the early Venetian school, unequalled. The accuracy of
imitation, the dazzling colour, the splendid dresses and accessories,
the grave beauty of the Madonna, the divine benignity of the Infant
Redeemer, and the sternly thoughtful heads of the old Doctors, are
not only positively fine, but have a relative interest and value as
being stamped with that very peculiar character which belonged to
the Yivarini and their immediate followers. It was painted for the
Scuola dell a Carita.^

2. A different and a singular treatment of the Four Fathers
occurs in another Venetian picture.^ Christ is represented seated on
a throne, and disputing with the Jewish doctors, who are eagerly
arguing or searching their books. In front of the composition stand
St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory ; who,
with looks fixed on the youthful Saviour, appear to be reverentially
listening to, and recording. His words. This wholly poetical and
ideal treatment of a familiar passage in the life of Christ, I have
never seen but in this one instance.

3. A third example is a picture by Moretto, of extraordinary beauty.^
The Virgin sits on a lofty throne, to which there is an ascent of
several steps ; the Child stands on her right : she presses him to her
with maternal tenderness, and his arms are round her neck. At the
foot of the throne stand St. Ambrose, with his scourge, and St.
Augustine ; St. Gregory, wearing the papal tiara, and without a
beard, is seated on a step of the throne, holding an open book ; and
St. Jerome, kneeling on one knee, points to a passage in it ; he wears

^ As I have frequent occasion to refer to pictures painted for the Scuole of Venice, it
may be as well to observe that the word scuola, which we translate school, is not a place of
education, but a confraternity for charitable purposes, — visiting the sick, providing
hospitals, adopting orphans, redeeming prisoners and captives, &c. In the days of the
republic these schools were richly supported and endowed, and the halls, churches, and
chapels attached to them were often galleries of Art : such were the schools of St. Mark,
St. Ursula, St. Roch, the Carith,, and others. Unhappily, they exist no longer; the
French seized on their funds, and Austria does not like confraternities of any kind. The
Scuola della Caritk is now the Academy of Arts.

^ Acad. Venice. Gio. da Udine. ' Frankfort Museum.

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

the cardinal's dress complete. This picture is worthy of Titian in
the richness of the effect, with a more sober grandeur in the colour.
The Virgin is too much like a portrait ; this is the only fault. ^

In the Chapel of San Lorenzo, in the Vatican, Angelico has painted
eight Doctors of the Church, single majestic figures standing under
Gothic canopies. According to the names now to be seen inscribed
on the pedestals beneath, these figures represent St. Jerome,^ St.
Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Gregory, St. Athanasius, St. Leo, St.
John Chrysostom, and St. Thomas Aquinas. St. John Chrysostom
and St. Athanasius represent the Greek doctors. St. Leo, who
saved Rome from Attila, is with peculiar propriety placed in the
Vatican ; and St. Thomas Aquinas, the angelic doctor, naturally
finds a place in a chapel painted by a Dominican for a pope who
particularly favoured the Dominicans, — Nicholas V.

The Four Fathers communing on the mystery of the Trinity, or
the Immaculate Conception, were favourite subjects in the beginning
of the seventeenth century, when church pictures, instead of being
religious and devotional, became more and more theological. There
is an admirable picture of this subject by Dosso Dossi.^ Above is
seen the Messiah, as Creator, in a glory ; he lays His hand on the
head of the Virgin, who kneels in deep humility before Him; St.
Gregory sits in profound thought, a pen in one hand, a tablet in the
other ; St. Ambrose and St. Augustine are similarly engaged ; St.
Jerome, to whom alone the celestial vision appears to be visible, is
looking up with awe and wonder. Guido, in a celebrated picture,*
has represented the Doctors of the Church communing on the
Immaculate Conception of the Virgin. The figures are admirable

^ We missed the opportunity, now never more to be recalled, of obtaining this admir-
able picture when it was sold out of the Fesch collection.

^ I believe the figure called St. Bonaventura to represent St. Jerome, because, in accord-
ance with the usual scheme of ecclesiastical decoration, the greatest of the four Latin
Fathers would take the first place, and the cardinal's hat and a long flowing beard are his
proper attribute; whereas, there is no example of a St. Bonaventura with a beard, or
wearing the monastic habit, without the Franciscan cord. The Arundel Society have
engraved this fine figure under the name of St. Bonaventura.

* Dresden Gal. ■* Imp. Gal., St. Petersburg.

ST. JEROME.

285

for thoughtful depth of character in the expression, and for the
noble arrangement of the draperies ; above is seen the Virgin,
floating amid clouds, in snow-white drapery, and sustained by angels ;
visible, however, to St. Jerome and St. Ambrose only.

Rubens has treated the Fathers several times : the colossal picture
in the Grosvenor Gallery is well known, where they appear before
us as moving along in a grand procession : St. Jerome comes last ;
(he should be first ; but on these points Rubens was not particular) :
he seems in deep contemplation, enveloped in the rich scarlet robes of
a cardinal of the seventeenth century, and turning the leaves of his
great book. In another picture we have the Four Fathers seated,
discussing the mystery of the Eucharist; St. Jerome points to a
passage in the Scriptures ; St. Gregory is turning the page ; they
appear to be engaged in argument ; the other two are listening
earnestly. There is another picture by Rubens in which the usual
attributes of the Fathers are borne aloft by angels, while they sit
communing below.

These examples will suffice to give a general idea of the manner
in which the four great Doctors of the Western Church are grouped
in devotional pictures. We will now consider them separately, each
according to his individual character and history.

St. Jerome.

Lat. Sanctus Hieronymus. Ital. San Geronimo or Girolamo. Fr. St. Jdrome, Hidrome,
or G^roistne. Ger. Der Heilige Hieronimus. Patron of scholars and students, and
more particularly of students in theology. (Sept. 30, a.d. 420.)

Of the four Latin Doctors, St. Jerome, as a subject of painting, is
by far the most popular. The reasons for this are not merely the
exceedingly interesting and striking character of the man, and the
picturesque incidents of his life, but also his great importance and
dignity as founder of Monachism in the West, and as author of the
universally-received translation of the Old and New Testament into

28« SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

the Latin language (called ^ The Vulgate '). There is scarcely a
collection of pictures in which we do not find a St. Jerome, either
doing penance in the desert, or writing his famous translation, or
meditating on the mystery of the Incarnation.

Jerome was born about a.d. 342, at Stridonium, in Dalmatia.
His father, Eusebius, was rich ; and as he showed the happiest dis-
position for learning, he was sent to Rome to finish his studies.
There, through his own passions, and the evil example of his com-
panions, he fell into temptation, and for a time abandoned himself
to worldly pleasures. But the love of virtue, as well as the love of
learning, was still strong within him : he took up the profession of
law, and became celebrated for his eloquence in pleading before the
tribunals. When more than thirty, he travelled into Gaul, and
visited the schools of learning there. It was about this time that
he was baptized, and vowed himself to perpetual celibac3^ In 373,
he travelled into the East, to animate his piety by dwelling for a
time among the scenes hallowed by the presence of the Saviour ; and,
on his way thither, he visited some of the famous Oriental hermits
and ascetics, of whom he has given us such a graphic account, and
whose example inspired him with a passion for solitude and a
monastic life. Shortly after his arrival in Syria, he retired to a
desert in Chalcis, on the confines of Arabia, and there he spent four
years in study and seclusion, supporting himself by the labour of his
hands. He has left us a most vivid picture of his life of penance in
the wilderness ; of his trials and temptations, his fastings, his sick-
ness of soul and body : and we must dwell for a moment on his own
description, in order to show with what literal and circumstantial
truth the painters have rendered it. He says, in one of his epistles,
' Oh how often, in the desert, in that vast solitude which, parched
by the sultry sun, affords a dwelling to the monks, did I fancy myself
in the midst of the luxuries of Rome ! I sate, alone, for I was full
of bitterness. My misshapen limbs were rough with sackcloth, and
my skin so squalid that I might have been mistaken for an Ethiopian.
Tears and groans were my occupation every day and all day long.
If sleep surprised me unawares, my naked bones, which scarcely held
together, rattled on the earth.' His companions, he says, ^ were

ST. JEROME. 287

scorpions and wild beasts ; ' his home, ' a recess among rocks and
precipices.' Yet, in the midst of this horrible self-torture and self-
abasement, he describes himself as frequently beset by temptations to
sin and sensual indulgence, and haunted by demons : at other times,
as consoled by voices and visions from heaven. Besides these trials
of the flesh and the spirit, he had others of the intellect. His love
of learning, his admiration of the great writers of classical antiquity,
— of Plato and Cicero, — made him impatient of the rude simplicity
of the Christian historians. He describes himself as fasting before
he opened Cicero ; and, as a further penance, he forced himself to
study Hebrew, which at first filled him with disgust, and this disgust
appeared to him a capital sin. In one of his distempered visions,
he fancied he heard the last trumpet sounded in his ear by an angel,
and summoning him before the judgment-seat of God. ' Who art
thou ? ' demanded the awful voice. ' A Christian,' replied the
trembling Jerome. ' 'Tis false ! ' replied the voice, ' thou art no
Christian : thou art a Ciceronian. Where the treasure is, there will
the heart be also.' He persevered, and conquered the difficulties of
Hebrew; and then, wearied by the religious controversies in the
East, after ten years' residence there, he returned to Rome.

But neither the opposition he had met with, nor his four years of
solitude and penance in the desert, had subdued the fiery enthusiasm
of temperament which characterised this celebrated man. At Rome
he boldly combated the luxurious self-indulgence of the clergy, and
preached religious abstinence and mortification. He was particularly
remarkable for the influence he obtained over the Roman women ; we
find them, subdued or excited by his eloquent exhortations, devoting
themselves to perpetual chastity, distributing their possessions among
the poor, or spending their days in attendance on the sick, and ready
to follow their teacher to the Holy Land — to the desert — even to death.
His most celebrated female convert was Paula, a noble Roman matron,
a descendant of the Scipios and the Gracchi. Marcella, another of
these Roman ladies, was the first who, in the East, collected together
a number of pious women to dwell together in community : hence
she is, by some authors, considered as the first nun ; but others con-
tend that Martha, the sister of Mary Magdalene, was the first who
founded a religious community of women.

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

After three years' sojourn at Rome, St. Jerome returned to Pales-
tine, and took up his residence in a monastery he had founded at
Bethlehem. When, in extreme old age, he became sensible of the
approach of death, he raised with effort his emaciated limbs, and,
commanding himself to be carried into the chapel of the monastery, he
received the Sacrament for the last time from the hands of the priest,
and soon after expired. He died in 420, leaving, besides his famous
translation of the Scriptures, numerous controversial writings, epistles,
and commentaries.

We read in the legendary history of St. Jerome, that one evening,
as he sat within the gates of his monastery at Bethlehem, a lion en-
tered, limping as in pain ; and all the brethren, when they saw the
lion, fled in terror : but Jerome arose, and went forward to meet him,
as though he had been a guest. And the lion lifted up his paw, and
St. Jerome, on examining it, found that it was wounded by a thorn,
which he extracted ; and he tended the lion till he was healed. The
grateful beast remained with his benefactor, and Jerome confided to
him the task of guarding an ass which was employed in bringing
firewood from the forest. On one occasion, the lion having gone to
sleep while the ass was at pasture, some merchants passing by carried
away the latter; and the lion, after searching for him in vain,
returned to the monastery with drooping head, as one ashamed. St.
Jerome, believing that he had devoured his companion, commanded
that the daily task of the ass should be laid upon the lion, and that
the faggots should be bound on his back, to which he magnanimously
submitted, until the ass was recovered ; which was in this wise.
One day, the lion, having finished his task, ran hither and thither,
still seeking his companion ; and he saw a caravan of merchants
approaching, and a string of camels, which, according to the Arabian
custom, were led by an ass; and when the lion recognised his friend,
he drove the camels into the convent, and so terrified the merchants,
that they confessed the theft, and received pardon from St. Jerome.

The introduction of the lion into pictures of St. Jerome is supposed
to refer to this legend : but in this instance, as in many others, the
reverse was really the case. The lion was in very ancient times adopted
as the symbol befitting St. Jerome, from his fervid, fiery nature, and

ST. JEROME.

his life in the wilderness ; and in later times, the legend invented to ex-
plain the symbol was gradually expanded into the story as given above.

Representations of St. Jerome, in pictures, prints, and sculpture,
are so numerous that it were in vain to attempt to give any detailed
account of them, even of the most remarkable. All, however, may be
included under the following classification, and, according to the
descriptions given, may be easily recognised.

The devotional subjects and single figures represent St. Jerome in
one of his three great characters. 1. As patron Saint and Doctor of
the Church. 2. As Translator and Commentator of the Scriptures.
3. As Penitent. As Doctor of the Church, and teacher, he enters into
every scheme of decoration, and finds a place in all sacred buildings.
As Saint and Penitent, he is chiefly to be found in the convents and
churches of the Jeronymites, who claim him as their Patriarch.

When placed before us as the patron saint and father of divinity,
he is usually standing full length, either habited in the cardinal's
robes, or with the cardinal's hat lying at his feet. It may be
necessary to observe, that there is no historical authority for making
St. Jerome a cardinal. Cardinal-priests were not ordained till three
centuries later ; but as the other fathers were all of high ecclesiastical
rank, and as St. Jerome obstinately refused all such distinction, it
has been thought necessary, for the sake of his dignity, to make
him a cardinal : another reason may be, that he performed, in the
court of Pope Dalmasius, those offices since discharged by the
cardinal-deacon. In some of the old Venetian pictures, instead of
the official robes of a cardinal, he is habited in loose ample red
drapery, part of which is thrown over his head. When represented
with his head uncovered, his forehead is lofty and bald, his beard is
very long, flowing even to his girdle ; his features fine and sharp,
his nose aquiline. In his hand he holds a book or a scroll, and
frequently the emblematical church, of which he was the great
support and luminary : and, to make the application stronger and
clearer, rays of light are seen issuing from the door of the church.

1. A signal instance of the treatment of Jerome as patron saint
occurs in a fine picture by Wohlgemuth, the master of Albert Diirer.^

^ Vienna Gal.
VOL. I. 0 0

290 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

It is an altar-piece representing the glorification of the saint, and
consists of three compartments. In the centre, St. Jerome stands
on a magnificent throne, and lays his left hand on the head of a lion,
raised up on his hind legs : the donors of the picture, a man and a
woman, kneel in front ; on each side are windows opening on a
landscape, wherein various incidents of the life of St. Jerome are
represented; on the right, his Penance in the Wilderness and his
Landing at Cyprus ; and on the left, the merchants who had carried
off the ass bring propitiatory gifts, which the saint rejects, and other
men are seen felling wood and loading the lion. On the inner
shutters or wings of the central picture, are represented, on the
right, the three other doctors,— St. Augustine, with the flaming
heart ; St. Ambrose, with the beehive — both habited as bishops ;
and St. Gregory, wearing his tiara, and holding a large book (his
famous Homilies) in his hand. On the left, three apostles with their
proper attributes — St. Andrew, St. Thomas, and St. Bartholomew ;
on the other side are represented, to the right, St. Henry II. holding
a church (the cathedral of Bamberg), and a sword, his proper
attributes ; and his wife St. Cunegunda.^ On the left, St. Elizabeth
of Hungary and St. Martin. Tiiere are besides, to close in the whole,
two outer doors : on the inner side, to the right, St. Joseph and St.
Kilian ; '^ on the left, St. Catherine and St. Ursula ; and on the exte-
rior of the whole the mass of St. Gregory, with various personages
and objects connected with the Passion of Christ. The whole is
about six feet high, dated 1511, and may bear a comparison, for
elaborate and multifarious detail and exquisite painting, with the
famous Van Eyck altar-piece in St. John's Church at Ghent.^

2. In his character of patron, St. Jerome is a frequent subject of
sculpture. There is a Gothic figure of him in Henry the Seventh's
Chapel, habited in the cardinal's robes, the lion fawning upon him.

When St. Jerome is represented in his second great character, as

^ In the catalogue, St. Cunegunda is styled St. Elizabeth Queen of Hungary, and St. Eliza-
b-: th of Hungary is styled St. Elizabeth Queen of Portugal.

" Irish Bishop of Wvirtzburg, and Patron, a.d. 689.

** * In this picture wo recognise the master to whom Albert Diirer was indebted for his
education ; indeed, Wohlgemuth here surpasses his great scholar in the expression of gentle-
ness and simplicity, particularly in the heads of some of the female saints.' — Handbook of
Painting : German, Flemish, and Dutch Schools, p. 111.

ST. JEROME.

291

the translator of the Scriptures, he is usually seated in a cav<' or in a
cell, busied in reading or in writing ; he wears a loose robe thrown
over his wasted form ; and either he looks down intent on his book,
or he looks up as if awaiting heavenly inspiration : sometimes an
angel is dictating to him.

1. In an old Italian print, which I have seen, he is seated on the
ground reading, in spectacles ; an anachronism frequent in the old
painters. Sometimes he is seated under the shade of a tree; or
within a cavern, writing at a rude table formed of a stump of a tree,
or a board laid across two fragments of rock; as in a beautiful
picture by Ghirlandajo, remarkable for its solemn and tranquil
feeling.-^

2. Very celebrated is an engraving of this subject by Albert Diirer.
The scene is the interior of a cell, at Bethlehem ; two windows on
the left pour across the picture a stream of sunshine, which is repre-
sented with wonderful effect. St. Jerome is seen in the background,
seated at a desk, most intently writing his translation of the
Scriptures ; in front the lion is crouching, and a fox is seen asleep.
These two animals are here emblems ; — the one, of the courage and
vigilance, the other of the wisdom or acuteness, of the saint. The
execution of this print is a miracle of Art, and it is very rare. There
is an exquisite little picture by Elzheimer copied from it, and of the
same size, at Hampton Court. I need hardly observe, that here the
rosary and the pot of holy water are anachronisms, as well as the
cardinal's hat. By Albert Diirer we have also St. Jerome writing in
a cavern ; and St Jerome reading in his cell ; both woodcuts.

3. Even more beautiful is a print by Lucas v. Leyden, in which St.
Jerome is reclining in his cell and reading intently ; the lion licks
his foot.

4. In a picture by Lucas Cranach, Albert of Brandenburg, elector
of Mayence (1527), is represented in the character of St. Jerome,
seated in the wilderness, and writing at a table formed of a plank
laid across two stumps of trees : he is in the cardinal-robes ; and in the
foreground a lion, a hare, a beaver, a partridge, and a hind, beautifully
painted, express the solitude of his life. In the background the

^ Florence, Ogni Santi.

292 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

caravan of merdiants is seen entering the gate of the monastery, con-
ducted by the faithful lion.

5. The little picture by Domenichino, in our National Gallery, re-
presents St. Jerome looking up from his book, and listening to the
accents of the angel. 6. In a picture by Tiarini,^ it is St. John the
Evangelist, and not an angel, who dictates while he writes. 7. In a
picture by Titian, St. Jerome, seated, holds a book, and gazes up at a
crucifix suspended in the skies ; the lion is drinking at a fountain.
Out of twenty prints of St. Jerome after Titian, there are at least
eight which represent him at study or writing.

It is in the double character of Doctor of the Church, and translator
of the Scriptures, that we find St. Jerome so frequently introduced
into pictures of the Madonna, and grouped with other saints. Two
of the most celebrated pictures in the world suggest themselves here
as examples : — I. ' The Madonna della Pesce' of Raphael ; where
the Virgin, seated on a raised throne, holds the Infant Christ in her
arms ; on her right hand, the Archangel Raphael presents the young
Tobias, who holds the fish, the emblem of Christianity or Baptism.
On the other side kneels St. Jerome, holding an open book, his
beard sweeping to his girdle ; the lion at his feet ; the Infant Christ,
while he bends forward to greet Tobias, has one hand upon St.
Jerome's book : the whole is a beautiful and expressive allegory.^ 2.
Correggio's picture, called ^ The St. Jerome of Parma,' represents
the Infant Christ on the knees of his mother : Mary Magdalene
bends to kiss his feet : St. Jerome stands in front, presenting his
translation of the Scriptures.

The penitent St. Jerome seems to have been adopted throughout
the Christian Church as the approved symbol of Christian penitence,
self-denial, and self-abasement. No devotional subject, if we except
the ' Madonna and Child ' and the ' Magdalene,' is of such perpetual
recurrence. In the treatment it has been infinitely varied. The scene
is generally a wild rocky solitude : St. Jerome, half naked, emaciated,

* Bologna, S. Maria Maggiore.

' The picture, originally at Naples, was purchased or appropriated by Philip IV. for th«
Church of the Escurial, which belonged to the Jeronymites.

ST. JEROME.

293

with matted hair and beard, is seen on his knees before a crucifix,
beating his breast with a stone. The lion is almost always intro-
duced, sometimes asleep, or crouching at his feet ; sometimes keep-
ing guard, sometimes drinking at a stream. The most magnificent
example of this treatment is by Titian : ^ St. Jerome, kneeling on
one knee, half supported by a craggy rock, and holding the stone,
looks up Avith eager devotion to a cross, artlessly fixed into a cleft

St. Jerome doing Penance. (Titian.)

in the rock ; two books lie on a cliff behind ; at his feet are a skull
and hour-glass ; and the lion reposes in front. The feeling of deep
solitude, and a kind of sacred horror breathed over this picture, are
inconceivably fine and impressive. Another by Titian, but inferior,
is in the Louvre ; and there are at least twelve engravings of St.
Jerome doing penance, after the same painter : among them a

^ Milan, Brera.

294 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

superb landscape, in whicli are seen a lion and a lioness prowling in
the wilderness, while the saint is doing penance in the foreground.
By Agostino Caracci there is a famous engraving of ' St. Jerome
doing penance in a cave,' called from its size the great St. Jerome.
But to particularise further would be endless : I know scarcely any
Italian painter since the fifteenth century who has not treated this
subject at least once.

The Spanish painters have rendered it with a gloomy power, and
revelled in its mystic significance. In the Spanish gallery of the
Louvre I counted at least twenty St. Jeromes : the old German
painters and engravers also delighted in it, on account of its pic-
turesque capabilities.

Albert Diirer represents St. Jerome kneeling before a crucifix,
which he has suspended against the trunk of a massy tree ; an open
book is near it ; he holds in his right hand a flint-stone, with
which he is about to strike his breast, all wounded and bleeding
from the blows already inflicted ; the lion crouches behind him, and
in the distance is a stag.

The penitent St. Jerome is not a good subject for sculpture ; the
undraped, meagre form, and the abasement of sufl'ering, are dis-
agreeable in this treatment : yet such representations are constantly
met with in churches. The famous colossal statue by Torrigiano,
now in the Museum at Seville, represents St. Jerome kneeling on a
rock, a stone in one hand, a crucifix in the other. At Venice, in
the Frari, there is a statue of St. Jerome, standing, with the stone
in his hand and the lion at his feet ; too majestic for the Penitent.
There are several other statues of St. Jerome at Venice, from the
Liberi and Lombardi schools, all fine as statues; but the penitent
saint is idealised into the patron-saint of penitents.

When figures of St. Jerome as penitent are introduced in Madonna
pictures, or in the Passion of Christ, then such figures are devotional,
and symbolical, in a general sense, of Christian repentance.

There is an early picture of the Crucifixion, by Eaphael,^ in which
he has placed St. Jerome at the foot of the cross, beating his breast
with a stone (86).

The pictures from the life of St. Jerome comprise a variety of

1 Collection of Lord Ward.

ST. JEROME.

595

subjects: — 1. 'He receives the cardinal's hat from the Virgin:'
sometimes it is the Infant Christ, seated in the lap of the Virgin,

St. Jei'ome, as Penitent, in a Crucifixion. (Raphael.)

who presents it to him. 2. ' He disputes with the Jewish doctors
on the truth of the Christian religion ; ' in a curious picture by Jaan
de Valdes.^ He stands on one side of a table in an attitude of
authority : the rabbis, each of whom has a demon looking over his
shoulder, are searching their books for arguments against him. 3.
' St. Jerome, while studying Hebrew in the solitude of Chalcida,
hears in a vision the sound of the last trumpet, calling men to judg-
ment.' This is a common subject, and styled ' The Vision of St.
Jerome.' I have met with no example earlier than the fifteenth

1 Louvre, Sp. Gal. •

J9« SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART,

century. In general, he is lying on the ground, and an angel sounds
the trumpet from above. In a composition by Ribera he holds a
pen in one hand and a penknife in the other : he seems to have been
arrested in the very act of mending his pen by the blast of the trum-
pet : the figure of the saint, wasted even to skin and bone, and his
look of petrified amazement, are very fine, notwithstanding the com-
monplace action. In a picture by Subleyras, in the Louvre, St.
Jerome is gazing upwards, with an astonished look ; three arch-
angels sound their trumpets from above. In a picture by Antonio
Pereda, at Madrid, St. Jerome not only hears in his vision the sound
of the last trump, he sees the dead arise from their graves around
him. Lastly, by way of climax, I may mention a picture in the
Louvre, by a modern French painter, Sigalon : St. Jerome is in a
convulsive fit, and the three angels, blowing their trumpets in his
ears, are like furies sent to torment and madden the sinner, rather
than to rouse the saint.

While doing penance in the desert, St. Jerome was sometimes
haunted by temptations, as well as amazed by terrors.

4. Domenichino, in one of the frescoes in St. Onofrio, represents the
particular kind of temptation by which the saint was in imagination
assailed : while he is ferventlj^ praying and beating his breast, a circle
of beautiful nymphs, seen in the background, weave a graceful dance.
Vasari has had the bad taste to give us a penitent St. Jerome with
Venus and Cupids in the background : one arch little Cupid takes aim
at him ; — an ofiensive instance of the extent to which, in the sixteenth
century, classical ideas had mingled with and depraved Christian Art.^

5. Guido. ' St. Jerome translating the Scriptures while an angel
dictates : ' life size and very fine (except the angel, who is weak,
and reminds one of a water-nymph ^) ; in his pale manner.

6. Domenichino. ' St. Jerome is flagellated by an angel for pre-
ferring Cicero to the Hebrew writings : ' also in the St. Onofrio.
The Cicero, torn from his hand, lies at his feet. Here the saint is
a young man, and the whole scene is represented as a vision.

7. But St. Jerome was comforted by visions of glory, as well as

1 P. Pitti. Florence. « Lichtenstein Gal.

ST. JEROME.

297

haunted by terrors and temptations. In the picture by Parmigiano,
in our National Gallery, St. Jerome is sleeping in the background,
while St. John the Baptist points upwards to a celestial vision of the
Virgin and Child, seen in the opening heavens above : the upper
part of this picture is beautiful, and full of dignity ; but the saint is
lying stretched on the earth in an attitude so uneasy and distorted,
that it would seem as if he were condemned to do penance even in
his sleep ; and the St. John has always appeared to me mannered
and theatrical.

St. Jerome and the Lion. (Coll' Antonio de Fiore.) Naples.

8. The story of the lion is often represented. St. Jerome is seated
his cell, attired in the monk's habit and cowl; the lion
approaches, and lays his paw upon his knee ; a cardinal's hat and
VOL. I. P ^

in

2ft8 BACKED AND LEGENDARY ART.

books are lying near him ; and, to express the self-denial of the
saint, a mouse is peeping into an empty cup (87).^

In another example, by Yittore Carpaccio, the lion enters the cell,
and three monks, attendants on St. Jerome, flee in terror.

9. The Last Communion of St. Jerome is the subject of one of
the most celebrated pictures in the world, — the St. Jerome of
Domenichiuo, which has been thought worthy of being placed
opposite to the Transfiguration of Raphael, in the Vatican. The
aged saint — feeble, emaciated, dying — is borne in the arms of his
disciples to the chapel of his monastery, and placed within the
porch. A young priest sustains him ; St. Paula, kneeling, kisses
one of his thin bony hands ; the saint fixes his eager eyes on the
countenance of the priest, who is about to administer the sacrament,
— a noble dignified figure in a rich ecclesiastical dress ; a deacon
holds the cup, and an attendant priest the book and taper ; the lion
droops his head with an expression of grief ; the eyes and attention
of all are on the dying saint, while four angels, hovering above,
look down upon the scene.

Agostino Caracci, in a grand picture now in the Bologna Gallery^
had previously treated the same subject with much feeling and
dramatic power : but here the saint is not so w^asted and so feeble :
St. Paula is not present, and the lion is tenderly licking his feet.

Older than either, and very beautiful and solemn, is a picture by
Vittore Carpaccio, in which the saint is kneeling in the porch of a
church, surrounded by his disciples, and the lion is seen outside.

10. ' The Death of St. Jerome.' In the picture by Stamina he is
giving his last instructions to his disciples, and the expression of
solemn grief in the old heads around is very fine. In a Spanish
picture he is extended on a couch, made of hurdles, and expires in
the arms of his monks.

In a very fine anonymous print, dated 1614, St. Jerome is dying
alone in his cell (this version of the subject is contrary to all
authority and precedent) : he presses to his bosom the Gospel and the
crucifix ; the lion looks up in his face roaring, and angels bear away
his soul to heaven.

^ Kugler pronounces this to be a Flemish picture {v. * Handbook/ p. 190).

ST. JEROME.

290

11. ^ The Obsequies of St. Jerome.' In the picture by Vittore
Carpaccio, the saint is extended on the ground before the high altar,
and the priests around are kneeling in various attitudes of grief or
devotion. The lion is seen on one side.^

I will mention here some other pictures in which St. Jerome
figures as the principal personage.

St. Jerome introducing Charles Y.
into Paradise is the subject of a large
fresco, by Luca Giordano, on the
staircase of the Escurial.

St. Jerome conversing with two
nuns, probably intended for St.
Paula and St. Marcella.^

The sleep of St. Jerome. He is
watched by two angels, one of
whom, with his finger on his lip,
commands silence.^

It is worth remarking, that in the
old Venetian pictures St. Jerome does
not wear the proper habit and hat
of a cardinal, but an ample scarlet
robe, part of which is thrown over
his head as a hood (88).

The history of St. Jerome, in a
series, is often found in the churches
and convents of the Jeronymites, and
generally consists of the following-
subjects, of which the fourth and ss
sixth are often omitted : —

1. He is baptized. 2. He receives the cardinal's hat from the
Virgin. 3. He does penance in the desert, beating his breast with a

^ The three frescoes by Carpaccio are in the Church of San Giorgio de' Schiavoni at
Venice.

2 It was in the Standish Gal. in the Louvre * Engraved by Loli.

Venetian 8t. Jerome.

800 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

stone. 4. He meets St. Augustine. 5. He is studying or writing
in a cell. 6. He builds the convent at Bethlehem. 7. He heals the
wounded lion. 8. He receives the Last Sacrament. 9. He dies
in the presence of his disciples. 10. He is buried.

Considering that St. Jerome has ever been venerated as one of the
great lights of the Church, it is singular that so few churches are
dedicated to him. There is one at Rome, erected, according to
tradition, on the very spot where stood the house of Santa Paula,
where she entertained St. Jerome during his sojourn at Rome in 382.
For the high altar of this church, Domenichino painted his master-
piece of the Communion of St. Jerome already described. The
embarkation of Saint Paula, to follow her spiritual teacher St. Jerome
to the Holy Land, is the subject of one of Claude's most beautiful sea
pieces, now in the collection of the Duke of Wellington ; another
picture of this subject, the figures as large as life, is in the Brera,
by a clever Cremonese painter, Giuseppe Bottoni.

St. Jerome has detained us long ; the other Fathers are, as subjects
of Art, much less interesting.

St. Ambrose.

Za<. S. Ambrosias. /^ftZ. Sant'Ambrogio. i^n St.Ambroise. Cer. Der Heilige Ambrosius.
Patron Saint of Milan. (April 4, A.D. 397.)

We can hardly imagine a greater contrast than between the stern,
enthusiastic, dreaming, ascetic Jerome, and the statesman-like,
practical, somewhat despotic Ambrose. This extraordinary man, in
whose person the priestly character assumed an importance and
dignity till then unknown, was the son of a prefect of Gaul, bearing
the same name, and was born at Treves in the year 340. It is said
that, when an infant in the cradle, a swarm of bees alighted on his
mouth, without injuring him. The same story was told of Plato
and of Archilochus, and considered prophetic of future eloquence.
It is from this circumstance that St. Ambrose is represented with
the bee-hive near him.

ST. AMBROSE. j(,l

Young Ambrose, after pursuing his studies at Rome with success,
was appointed prefect of ^Emilia and Liguria (Piedmont and Genoa),
and took up his residence at Milan. Shortly afterwards the Bishop
of Milan died, and the succession was hotly disputed between the
Catholics and the Arians. Ambrose appeared in his character of
prefect, to allay the tumult ; he harangued the people with such
persuasive eloquence that they were hushed into respectful silence ;
and in the midst a child's voice was heard to exclaim, ' Ambrose
shall be bishop ! ' The multitude took up the cry as though it had
been a voice from heaven, and compelled him to assume the sacred
office. He attempted to avoid the honour thus laid upon him by
flight, by entreaties, — pleading that, though a professed Christian,
he had never been baptized : in vain ! the command of the emperor
enforced the wishes of the people ; and Ambrose, being baptized,
was, within eight days afterwards, consecrated bishop of Milan.
He has since been regarded as the patron saint of that city.

He began by distributing all his worldly goods to the poor ; he
then set himself to study the sacred writings, and to render himself
in all respects worthy of his high dignity. ' The Old and the New
Testament,' says Mr. Milman, ' met in the person of Ambrose : the
implacable hostility to idolatry, the abhorrence of every deviation
from the established formulary of belief; — the wise and courageous
benevolence, the generous and unselfish devotion to the great
interests of humanity.'

He was memorable for the grandeur and magnificence with which
he invested the ceremonies of worship : they had never been so im-
posing. He particularly cultivated music, and introduced from the East
the manner of chanting the service since called the Ambrosian chant.

Two things were especially remarkable in the life and character of
St. Ambrose. The fiirst was the enthusiasm with which he advocated
celibacy in both sexes : on this topic, as we are assured, he was so
persuasive, that mothers shut up their daughters lest they should be
seduced by their eloquent bishop into vows of chastity. The other
was his determination to set the ecclesiastical above the sovereign or
civil power : this principle, so abused in later times, was in the days
of Ambrose the assertion of the might of Christianity, of mercy, of

SOS SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

justice, of freedom, over heathenism, tyranny, cruelty, slavery. The
dignity with which he refused to hold any communication with the
Emperor Maximus, because he was stained with the blood of Gratian,
and his resolute opposition to the Empress Justina, who interfered
with his sacerdotal privileges, were two instances of this spirit.
But the most celebrated incident of his life is his conduct with
regard to the Emperor Theodosius, the last great emperor of Rome ; —
a man of an iron will, a despot, and a warrior. That he should bend
in trembling submission at the feet of an unarmed priest, and shrink
before his rebuke, filled the whole world with an awful idea of the
supremacy of the Church, and prepared the way for the Hildebrands,
the Perettis, the Caraffas of later times. With regard to St.
Ambrose, this assumption of moral power, this high prerogative of
the priesthood, had hitherto been without precedent, and in this its
first application it certainly commands our respect, our admiration,
and our sympathy.

Theodosius, with all his great qualities, was subject to fits of
violent passion. A sedition, or rather a popular affray, had taken
place in Thessalonica ; one of his officers was ill-treated, and some
lives lost. Theodosius, in the first moment of indignation,
ordered an indiscriminate massacre of the inhabitants, and seven
thousand human beings — ^men, women, and children — ^were sacri-
ficed. The conduct of Ambrose on this occasion was worthy of
a Christian prelate: he retired from the presence of the emperor,
and wrote to him a letter, in which, in the name of Christ, of His
Church, and of all the bishops over whom he had any influence, he
denounced this inhuman act with the strongest expressions of
abhorrence, and refused to allow the sovereign, thus stained with
innocent blood, to participate in the sacraments of the Church ; —
in fact, excommunicated him. In vain the emperor threatened, sup-
plicated; in vain he appeared with all his imperial state before
the doors of the cathedral of Milan, and commanded and entreated
entrance. The doors were closed ; and even on Christmas-day, when
he again as a suppliant presented himself, Ambrose appeared at the
porch, and absolutely forbade his entrance, un'ess he should choose
to pass into the sanctuary over the dead body of the intrepid bishop.
At length, after eight months of interdict, Ambrose consented to

4

ST. AMBROSE. 303

relent, on two conditions : the first, that the emperor should publish
m edict by which no capital punishment could be executed till thirty
lays after conviction of a crime ; the second, that he should per-
form a public penance. The emperor submitted ; and, clothed in
sackcloth, grovelling on the earth, with dust and ashes on his head,
lay the master of the world before the altar of Christ, because of
mocent blood hastily and wrongfully shed. This was a great
'iumph, and one of incalculable results — some evil, some good.

Another incident in the life of St. Ambrose should be recorded to
lis honour. In his time, ' the first blood was judicially shed for
Religious opinion' — and the first man who suffered for heresy was

*riscilian, a noble Spaniard: on this occasion, St. Ambrose and St.

[ai'tin of Tours raised their protest in the name of Christianity against
this dreadful precedent ; but the animosity of the Spanish bishops
)revailed, and Priscilian was put to death ; so early were bigotry and
jruelty the characteristics of the Spanish hierarchy ! Ambrose refused
to communicate with the few bishops who had countenanced this
transaction : the general voice of the Church was against it.

The man who had thus raised himself above all worldly power was
mdued by popular enthusiasm with supernatural privileges : he per-
formed cures ; he saw visions. At the time of the consecration of
khe new cathedral at Milan, a miraculous dream revealed to him the

lartyrdom of two holy men, Gervasius and Protasius, and the place

rhere their bodies reposed. The remains were disinterred, conveyed
'in solemn procession to the cathedral, and deposited beneath the high
altar ; and St. Grervasius and St. Protasius became, on the faith of a
dream, distinguished saints in the Roman calendar. Ambrose died
at Milan, in 397, in the attitude and the act of prayer.

There were many poetical legends and apologues relating to St.
Ambrose current in the middle ages.

It is related that an obstinate heretic who went to hear him
preach, only to confute and mock him, beheld an angel visible at
his side, and prompting the words he uttered ; on seeing which, the
scofier was of course converted ; a subject represented in his church
at Milan.

304 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

One day, Ambrose went to the prefect Macedonius, to entreat favour
for a poor condemned wretch ; but the doors were shut against him,
and he was refused access. Then he said, ' Thou, even thou, shalt fly
to the church for refuge, and shalt not enter ! ' and a short time after-
wards, Macedonius, being pursued by his enemies, fled for sanctuary
to the church ; but, though the doors were wide open, he could not
find the entrance, but wandered around in blind perplexity till he
was slain. Of this incident I have seen no picture.

On another occasion, St. Ambrose, coming to the house of a noble-
man of Tuscany, was hospitably received ; and he inquired concerning
the state of his host ; the nobleman replied, ' I have never known
adversity ; every day hath seen me increasing in fortune, in honours,
in possessions. I have a numerous family of sons and daughters,
who have never cost me a pang of sorrow ; I have a multitude of
slaves, to whom my word is law ; and I have never suffered either
sickness or pain.' Then Ambrose rose hastily from table, and said
to his companions, ^ Arise ! fly from this roof, ere it fall upon us ;
for the Lord is not here ! ' and scarcely had he left the house, when
an earthquake shook the ground, and swallowed up the palace with
all its inhabitants. I have seen this story in a miniature, but cannot
at this moment refer to it.

St. Ambrose falls asleep, or into a trance, while celebrating mass,
and sees in the spirit the obsequies of St. Martin of Tours : the
sacristan strikes him on the shoulder to wake him. This is the
subject of a very old mosaic in his church at Milan.

When St. Ambrose was on his death-bed, Christ visited him and
comforted him ; Honorat, bishop of Vercelli, was then in attendance
on him, and having gone to sleep, an angel waked him, saying, ' Arise,
for he departs in this hour ; ' and Honorat was just in time to ad-
minister the sacrament and see him expire. Others who were present
beheld him ascend to heaven, borne in the arms of angels.

Devotional pictures of St. Ambrose alone as patron saint do not often
occur. In general he wears the episcopal pallium with the mitre and
crosier as bishop : the bee-hive is sometimes placed at his feet ; but a
more frequent attribute is the knotted scourge with three thongs. The
scourge is a received emblem of the castigation of sin : in the hand of

ST. AMBROSE.

305

St. Ambrose it may signify the penance inflicted on the Emperor
Theodosius ; or, as others interpret it, the expulsion of the Arians from
Ital}^, and the triumph of the Trinitarians. It has always this mean-
ing, we may presume, when the scourge has three knots, or three
thongs. I have seen figures of St. Ambrose holding two human
bones in his hand. When this attribute occurs (as in a picture by
Vivarini, Venice Acad.), it alludes to the discovery of the relics of
Gervasius and Protasius.

Among the few representations of St. Ambrose as patron saint,
the finest beyond all comparison is that which adorns his chapel in
the Frari at Venice, painted conjointly by B. Vivarini and Basaiti
(a.d. 1498). He is seated on a throne, raised on several steps, attired
in his episcopal robes and mitre, and bearing the triple scourge in his
hand. He has a short grey beard, and looks straight out of the
picture w^ith an expression of stern power ; — nothing here of the
benignity and humility of the Christian teacher I Around his throne
stands a glorious company of saints : on the right, St. George in
complete armour ; St. John the Baptist ; a young saint, bearing a
sword and palm, with long hair, and the most beautiful expression
of mild serene faith, whom I suppose to be St. Theodore ; St. Sebas-
tian ; and another figure behind, part of the head only seen. On the
left, St. Maurice, armed; the three Doctors, St. Gregory, St. Au-
gustine, St. Jerome, and two other saints partly seen behind, whose
personality is doubtful. All these wait round St. Ambrose, as
guards and counsellors round a sovereign ; two lovely little angels
sit on the lower step of the throne hymning his praise. The whole
picture is wonderful for colour, depth, and expression, and shows
to what a pitch of excellence the Vivarini family had attained in
these characteristics of the Venetian school, long before it had
become a school.

Most of the single figures of St. Ambrose represent him in his
most popular character, that of the stern adversary of the Arians. I
remember (in the Frari at Venice) a picture in which St. Ambrose
in his episcopal robes is mounted on a white charger, and flourishing
on high his triple scourge. The Arians are trampled under his feet,
or fly before him. I have seen an old print, in which he is represented
with a short grey beard, stern countenance, and wearing the bishop's

VOL. I. QQ

306 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

mitre ; underneath is the inscription ' Antiquis ejus imaginibus
Mediolani olim depictis ad vivtim expressa;'' but it seems certain tliat
no authentic portrait of him exists.

His church at Milan, the Basilica of Sant' Ambrogio Maggiore,
one of the oldest and most interesting churches in Christendom, was
founded by him in 387, and dedicated to all the Saints. Though
rebuilt in the ninth century and -restored in the seventeenth, it still
retains the form of the primitive Christian churches (like some of
those at Eome and Ravenna), and the doors of cypress wood are tra-
ditionally regarded as the very doors which St. Ambrose closed against
the Emperor Theodosius, brought hither from the ancient cathedral.
Within this venerable and solemn old church may be seen one of the
most extraordinary and best-preserved specimens of Mediseval Art :
it is the golden shrine or covering of the high altar, much older than
the famous pala d* oro at Venice ; and the work, or at least the de-
sign, of one man : ^ whereas the pala is the work of several different
artists at different periods. On the front of the altar, which is all
of plates of gold, enamelled and set with precious stones, are repre-
sented in relief scenes from the life of our Saviour : on the sides,
which are of silver-gilt, angels, archangels, and medallions of Mila-
nese saints. On the back, also of silver-gilt, we have the whole life
of St. Ambrose, in a series of small compartments, most curious and
important as a record of -costume and manners, as well as an example
of the state of Art at that time. I have never seen any engraving
of this monument, but I examined it carefully. In the centre stand
the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, in the Byzantine style; and
below them, St. Ambrose blesses the donor, Bishop Angelbertus, and
the goldsmith Wolvinus. Around, in twelve compartments, we have
the principal incidents of the life of St. Ambrose, the figures being,
as nearly as I can recollect, about six inches high.

1. Bees swarm round his head as he lies in his cradle. 2. He is
appointed prefect of the Ligurian provinces. 3. He is elected Bishop
of Milan in 375. 4. He is baptized. 5. He is ordained. 6. and 7.
He sleeps, and beholds in a vision the obsequies of St. Martin of Tours.

' Wolvinus, A.D. 832. * His name seems to indicate that he was of Teutonic race— a
circumstance which has excited much controversy amongst the modern Italian autiquaries.'
— MwTay^s Handbook.

I

ST, AMBROSE. 307

8. He preaches in tlie cathedral , insph-ed by angels. 9. He heals the
sick and lame. 10. He is visited by Christ. 11. An angel wakes
the bishop of Vercelli, and sends him to St. Ambrose. 12. Ambrose
dies, and angels bear away his sonl to heaven.

I was surprised not to find in his church what we consider as the
principal event of his life — his magnanimous resistance to the
Emperor Theodosius. In fact, the grand scene between Ambrose
and Theodosius has never been so popular as it deserves to be ; con-
sidered merely as a subject of painting, it is full of splendid
picturesque capabilities ; for grouping, colour, contrast, background,
all that could be desired. In the great picture by Rubens,^ the scene
is the porch of the church. On the left the emperor, surrounded by
his guards, stands irresolute, and in a supplicatory attitude, on the
steps ; on the right and above, St. Ambrose is seen, attended by the
ministering priests, and stretches out his hand to repel the intruder.
There is a print, after Andrea del Sarto, representing Theodosius on
his knees before the relenting prelate. In the Louvre is a small
picture, by Subleyras, of the reconciliation of Ambrose and Theodo-
sius. In our National Gallery is a small and beautiful copy, by
Vandyck, of the great picture by Hubens.

As joint patrons of Milan, St. Ambrose and St. Carlo Borromeo
are sometimes represented together, but only in late pictures.

There is a statue of St. Ambrose, by Falconet,^ in the act of repell-
ing Theodosius, which is mentioned by Diderot, with a commentary
so characteristic of the French anti-religious feeling of that time, —
a feeling as narrow and one-sided in its way as the most bigoted puri-
tanism, — that I am tempted to extract it ; only premising, that if,
after the slaughter at Ismael, Catherine of Russia had been placed
under the ban of Cliristendom, the world would not have been the
worse for such an exertion of the priestly power.

C'est ce fougueux ^veque qui osa fermer les portes de I'^glise k Th^odose, et ^ qui un
certain souverain de par le monde [Frederic of Prussia] qui dans la guerre pass^e avoit une
k'l bonne envie de faire un tour dans la rue des pretres, et une certaine souveraine [Catherine
of Russia] qui vient de d^barrasser son clerg^ de toute cette richesse inutile qui I'empechoit
d'etre respectable, auroient fait couper la barbe et les oreilles, en lui disant : * Apprenez,
monsieur I'abb^, que le temple de votre Dieu est sur mon domaine, et que si mon pri-
decesseur vous a accord^ par gr^-ce lea trois arpens de terrain qu'il occupe, je puis lea

^ Belvedere Gal., Vienna. ^ Paris, Invalides.

308 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

reprendre et vous envoyer porter vos autels et votre fanatisme ailleurs. Ce lieu-ci est la
maison du P^re commun des hommes, bons ou mdchans, et je veux entrer quand il me plaira.
Je ne m'accuse point b, vous ; quand je daignerois vous consulter, vous n'en savez pas assez
pour me conseiller sur ma conduite, et de quel front vous immiscez-vous d'en juger ? ' Mais
le plat empereur ne parla pas ainsi, et I'dvSque savoit bien h qui il avoit k faire. Le
statuaire nous I'a montre dans le moment de son insolent apostrophe.

In Diderot's criticisms on Art, which are often quoted even now,
there is in general a far better taste than prevailed in his time, and
much good sense ; but a low tone of sentiment when he had to deal
with imaginative or religious Art, and an intolerable coarseness —
' most mischievous foul sin in chidino: sin.'

St. Augustine.

St. Austin. Lat. Sanctus Augustintis. Ital. Sant' Agostino. Fr. St Augustin.
(Aug. 28, A.D. 430.)

St. Augustine, the third of the Doctors of the Church, was born at
Tagaste, in Numidia, in 354. His father was a heathen : his mother,
Monica, a Christian. Endowed with splendid talents, a vivid
imagination, and strong passions, Augustine passed his restless youth
in dissipated pleasures, in desultory studies, changing from one faith
to another, dissatisfied with himself and unsettled in mind. His
mother, Monica, wept and prayed for him, and, in the extremity of
her anguish, repaired to the bishop of Carthage. After listening to
her sorrows, he dismissed her with these words : ' Go in peace ; the
son of so many tears will not perish ! ' Augustine soon afterwards
went to E-ome, where he gained fame and riches by his eloquence at
the bar ; but he was still unhappy and restless, nowhere finding peace
either in labour or in pleasure. From Eome he went to Milan ;
there, after listening for some time to the preaching of Ambrose, he
was, after many struggles converted to the faith, and was baptized
by the bishop of Milan, in presence of his mother, Monica. On this
occasion was composed the hymn called the ' Te Deum,' still in use
in our Church ; St. Ambrose and St. Augustine reciting the verses
alternately as they advanced to the altar. Augustine, after some
time spent in study, was ordained priest, and then bishop of Hippo,

ST. AUGUSTINE.

a small town and territory not far from Carthage. Once installed in
his bishopric, he ever afterwards refused to leave the flock intrusted
to his care, or to accept of any higher dignity. His life was passed
in the practice of every virtue : all that he possessed was spent in
hospitality and charity, and his time was devoted to the instruction
of his flock, either by preaching or writing. In 430, after he had
presided over his diocese for thirty-five years, the city of Hippo was
besieged by the Vandals ; in the midst of the horrors that ensued,
Augustine refused to leave his people, and died during the siege,
being then in his seventy-sixth year. It is said that his remains were
afterwards removed from Africa to Pavia, by Luitprand, king of the
Lombards. His writings in defence of Christianity are numerous and
celebrated ; and he is regarded as the patron saint of theologians and
learned men.

Of his glorious tomb, in the Cathedral of Pavia, I can only say
that its beauty as a work of art astonished me. I had not been
prepared for anything so rich, so elegant in taste, and so elaborate
in invention. It is of the finest florid Gothic, worked in white
marble, scarcely discoloured by time. Augustine lies upon a bier,
and angels of exquisite grace are folding his shroud around him.
The basso-relievos represent the events of his life ; the statues of the
evangelists, apostles, and other saints connected with the history of
the Church, are full of dignity and character. It comprises in all
290 figures. This magnificent shrine is attributed by Cicognara to
the Jacobelli of Venice, and by Vasari to the two brothers Agostino
and Agnolo of Siena ; but he does not speak with certainty, and the
date 1362 seems to justify the supposition of Cicognara, the Sienese
brothers being then eighty or ninety years old.

Single figures of St. Augustine are not common ; and when
grouped with others in devotional pictures, it is not easy to distin-
guish him from other bishops ; for his proper attribute, the heart
flaming or transpierced, to express the ardour of his piety or the
poignancy of his repentance, is very seldom introduced : but when a
bishop is standing with a book in his hand, or a pen, accompanied by
St. Jerome and with no particular attribute, we may suppose it to be
St. Augustine ; and when the title of one of his famous writings is
inscribed on the book, it of course fixes the identity beyond a doubt.

SIO SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

1. B. Vivarini.' St. Augustine seated on a throne, as patron saint,
mitred and robed ; alone, stern, and majestic.-^

2. Dosso Dossi. St. Augustine throned as patron, attended by
two angels ; he looks like a jovial patriarch.^

3. F. Filippo Lippi. St. Augustine writing in his chamber ; no
emblem, no mitre; yet the personalite so marked, that one could
not mistake him either for Ambrose or Jerome.^

4. Andrea del Sarto. St, Augustine as doctor ; before him stand
St. Dominic and St. Peter Martyr ; beside him St. Laurence, listen-
ing ; in front kneel St. Sebastian and Mary Magdalen.*

5. V. Carpaccio. St. Augustine standing; a fine, stern, majestic
figure ; he holds his book and scourge.^

6. Palis Bordone. The Virgin and Child enthroned ; the Virgin
places on. the head of St. Augustine, who kneels before her, the
jewelled mitre.®

7. Florigerio. St. Augustine, as bishop, and St. Monica, veiled,
stand on each side of the Madonna.^

As a series of subjects, the history of St. Augustine is not com-
monly met with ; yet certain events in his life are of very frequent
occurrence.

I shall begin with the earliest.

1. Monica brings her son to school; the master receives him; the
scholars are sitting in a row conning their hornbooks. The names
of Monica and Augustine are inscribed in the glories round their
heads. This is a very curious little oval picture of the early part of
the fourteenth century.®

Benozzo Gozzoli has painted the same subject in a large fresco in
the church of San Geminiano at Volterra (a.d. 1460). Monica
presents her son to the schoolmaster, who caresses him ; in the back-
ground a little boy is being whipped, jirecisely in the same attitude
in which correction is administered to this day in some of our
schools.

2. St. Augustine under the fig-tree meditating, with the inscrip-

^ SS. Giovan e Paolo, Venice. » Brera, Milan. ^ pj Qal.

* Pitti Pal. This fine picture was painted for the Agostitii.

* Brera, Milan. ^ Berlin Gal. ^ Acad., Venice. ** Vatican, Christian Museum.

ST. AUGUSTINE. sil

tion, ^ Dolores anima3 salutem parturientes ; ' and the same subject
varied, with the inscription, Tolle^ lege. He tells us in his Confes-
sions, that while still unconverted and in deep communion with his
friend Alypius on the subject of the Scriptures, the contest within his
mind was such that he rushed from the presence of his friend and
threw himself down beneath a fig-tree, pouring forth torrents of
repentant tears ; and he heard a voice, as it were the voice of a child,
repeating several times, ' Tolle, lege^ ' Take and read ;' and returning
to the place where he had left his friend, and taking up the sacred
volume, he opened it at the verse of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans,
' Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envying ; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
make not provision for the flesh.' Considering that this was the
voice of God, he took up the religious profession, to the gieat joy of
his mother and his friend.

3. C. Procaccino. The Baptism of St. Augustine in the presence
of St. Monica. This is a common subject in chapels dedicated to
St. Augustine or St. Monica.^

4. As the supposed founder of one of the four great religious
communities, St. Augustine is sometimes represented as giving the
rules to his Order : or in the act of writing them, while his monks
stand around, as in a picture by Carletto Cagliari : ^ both are common
subjects in the houses of the Augustine friars. The habit is black. ^

5. St. Augustine dispensing alms, generally in a black habit, and
with a bishop's mitre on his head.

6. St. Augustine, washing the feet of the pilgrims, sees Christ
descend from above to have his feet washed with the rest ; a large
picture in the Bologna Academy by Desubleo, a painter whose works,
with this one exception, are unknown to me. The saint wears the
black habit of an Augustiue friar, and is attended by a monk with a
napkin in his hand. I found the same subject in the Louvre, in a
Spanish picture of the seventeenth century ; above is seen a church
(like the Pantheon) in a glory, and Christ is supposed to utter the
words, ' Tibi commendo Ecclesiam meam.'' *

' Cremona. ^ Belvedere, Vienna. ' v. * Legends of the Monastic Orders,' p. 191.
^ I believe this picture was afterwards in the possession of Mr. Dennistoun, of DennistouT).

Mr. Stirling mentions it as a fine specimen of Murillo's second style.

312

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

7. St. Augustine, borne aloft by angels in an ecstatic vision,
beholds Christ in the opening heavens above, St. Monica kneeling
below. This fine picture, by Yandyck, is or was in the gallery of
Lord Methuen at Corsham : and at Madrid there is another example ,
by Murillo : St. Augustine kneeling in an ecstasy sees a celestial
vision ; on one hand the Saviour crucified, on the other the Virgin
and angels.

This, however, is not the famous subject called, in general, 8. ' The
Vision of St. Augustine,' which represents a dream or vision related

The Vision of St. Augustine. (Murillo.)

ST. AUGUSTINE. sU

by himself. He tells us that while busied in writing his Discourse
on the Trinity, he wandered along the sea-shore lost in meditation.
Suddenly he beheld a child who, having dug a hole in the sand,
appeared to be bringing water from the sea to fill it. Augustine
inquired what was the object of his task ? He replied, that he
intended to empty into this cavity all the waters of the great deep.
' Inpossible ! ' exclaimed Augustine. ' Not more impossible,' replied
the child, ^ than for thee, 0 Augustine ! to explain the mystery on
which thou art now meditating.'

IN'o subject from the history of St. Augustine has been so often
treated, yet I do not remember any very early example. It was
adopted as a favourite theme when Art became rather theological than
religious, and more intent on illustrating the dogmas of churchmen
than the teaching of Christ. During the 16th and 17th centuries
we find it everywhere, and treated in every variety of style ; but
the motif does not vary, and the same fault prevails too generally,
of giving us a material fiict, rather than a spiritual vision or
revelation. Augustine, arrayed in his black habit or his episcopal
robes, stands on the sea-shore, gazing with an astonished air on
the Infant Christ, who pauses, and looks up from his task, holding
a bowl, a cup, a ladle, or a shell in his hand. Thus we have it
in Murillo's picture — the most beautiful example I have seen :
the child is heavenly, but not visionary, ' palpable to feeling as
to sense.'

In G-arofalo's picture of this subject, now in our National Gallery,
Augustine is seated on a rock by the margin of the sea, habited in
his episcopal robes, and with his books and writing implements near
him ; and while he gazes on the mysterious child, the Virgin appears
amid a choir of angels above : behind Augustine stands St. Catherine,
the patron saint of theologians and scholars : the little red figure in
the background represents St. Stephen, whose life and actions are
eloquently set forth in the homilies of St. Augustine : the introduc-
tion of St. Catherine, St. Stephen, and the whole court of heaven,
gives the picture a visionary character. Rubens has painted this
subject with all his powerful reality : here Augustine wears the
black habit of his Order. Vandyck in his large grand picture has
introduced St. Monica kneeling, thus giving at once the devotional

VOL. I. R R

S14 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

or visionary character.^ Albert Diirer has designed and engraved
the same subject. The most singular treatment is the classical
composition of B/aphael, in one of the small chiaro-scuro pictures
placed significantly under the ^Dispute of the Sacrament.* St.
Augustine is in a Eoman dress, bare-headed, and on horseback ; his
horse starts and rears at the sight of the miraculous child.

There is something at once picturesque and mystical in this subject,
which has rendered it a favourite with artists and theologians ; yet
there is always, at least in every instance I can recollect, something
prosaic and literal in the treatment which spoils the poetry of the
conception.

9. ' St. Augustine and St. Stephen bury Count Orgaz' — the
masterpiece of Domenico el Greco, once in the Cathedral of Toledo,
now in the Madrid Galler3\ This Conde de Orgaz, as Mr. Ford tells
us in his Handbook, lived in 1312, and had repaired a church in his
life-time, and therefore St. Stephen and St. Augustine came down
from heaven to lay him in his tomb, in presence of Christ, the
Virgin, and all the court of heaven. ^ The black and gold armour of
the dead Count is equal to Titian ; the red brocades and copes of
the saints are admirable ; less good are the Virgin and celestial
groups.' I have before mentioned the reason why St. Augustine
and St. Stephen are often represented in companionship.

St. Monica is often introduced into pictures of her son, where she
has, of course, the secondary place ; her dress is usually a black robe,
and a veil or coif, white or grej^, resembling that of a nun or a widow.
I have met with but one picture where she is supreme ; it is in the
Carmine at Florence. St. Monica is seated on a throne and attended
by twelve holy women or female saints, six on each side. The very
dark situation of this picture prevented me from distinguishing
individually the saints around her, but Monica herself as well as the
other figures have that grandiose air which belongs to the painter —
Filippo Lippi.

I saw in the atelier of the painter Ary Schefier, in 1845, an
admirable picture of St. Augustine and his mother Monica. The
two figures, not quite full length, are seated ; she holds his hand in
both hers, looking up to heaven with an expression of enthusiastic

1 Once in Lord Methuen's Gallery at Corsham.

ST. GREGORY.

undoubting faith ; — ' the son of so many tears cannot be cast away I *
He also is looking up with an ardent, eager, but anxious, doubtful
expression, which seems to say, * Help thou my unbelief! ' For pro-
found and truthful feeling and significance, I know few things in
the compass of modern Art that can be compared to this picture.^

St. Gregory.

Lat Sanctus Gregorius Magnus. Ital. San Gregorio Magno or Papa. Fr. St. Grdgoire.
Ger. Der Heilige Gregor. (March 12, a.d. 604.)

The fourth Doctor of the Latin Church, St. Gregory, stjded, and
not without reason, Gregory the Great, was one of those extraor-
dinary men whose influence is not only felt in their own time, but
through long succeeding ages. The events of his troubled and
splendid pontificate belong to history; and I shall merely throw
; together here such particulars of his life and character as may
[serve to render the multiplied representations of him both intelli-
gible and interesting. He was born at Rome in the year 540. His
Father, Gordian, was of senatorial rank: his mother, Sylvia, who, in
[the history of St. Gregory, is almost as important as St. Monica in
(the story of St. Augustine, was a woman of rare endowments, and,
: during his childish years, the watchful instructress of her son. It is
[recorded that when he was still an infant she was favoured by a
[vision of St. Antony, in which he promised to her son the supreme
dignity of the tiara. Gregory, however, commenced his career in
life as a lawyer, and exercised during twelve years the office of
prsetor or chief magistrate of his native city ; yet, while apparently
engrossed by secular aff'airs, he became deeply imbued with the
religious enthusiasm which was characteristic of his time and here-
ditary in his family. Immediately on the death of his father he
devoted all the wealth he had inherited to pious and charitable pur-
poses, converted his paternal home on the Celian Hill into a mon-
astery and hospital for the poor, which he dedicated to St. Andrew ;
then, retiring to a little cell within it, he took the habit of the Bene-

^ It was in possession of Her Majesty the Ex-Queen of the French, who paid for it

25,000f.

316 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

dictine Order, and gave up all liis time to stud}^ and preparation for
the duties to which he had devoted himself. On the occasion of a
terrific plague which almost depopulated Kome, he fearlessly under-
took the care of the poor and sick. Pope Pelagius having died at
this time, the people with one voice called upon Gregory to succeed
him ; but he shrank from the high office, and wrote to the Emperor
Maurice, entreating him not to ratify the choice of the people. The Em-
peror sent an edict confirming his election, and thereupon Gregory
fled from Rome, and hid himself in a cave. Those who went in search
of him were directed to the place of his concealment by a celestial
light, and the fugitive was discovered and brought back to Rome.

No sooner had he assumed the tiara, thus forced upon him against
his will, than he showed himself in all respects worthy of his eleva-
tion. While he asserted the dignity of his station, he was distin-
guished by his personal humility : he was the first pope who took
the title of ' Servant of the Servants of God; ' he abolished slavery
throughout Christendom on religious grounds ; though enthusiastic
in making converts, he set himself against persecution ; and when
the Jews of Sardinia appealed to him, he commanded that the syna-
gogues which had been taken from them, and converted into churches,
should be restored. He was the first who sent missionaries to
preach the Gospel in England, roused to pity by the sight of some
British captives exposed for sale in the market at Rome. Shocked
at the idea of an eternity of vengeance and torment, if he did not
orginate the belief in purgatory, he was at least the first who
preached it publicly, and made it an article of faith. In his hatred
of war, of persecution, of slavery, he stepped not only in advance of
his own time, but of ours. He instituted the celibacy of the clergy,
one of the boldest strokes of ecclesiastical power ; he reformed the
services of the Church ; defined the model of the Roman liturgy,
such as it has ever since remained — the offices of the priests, the
variety and change of the sacerdotal garments ; he arranged the
music of the chants, and he himself trained the choristers. ' Experi-
ence,' saj's Gibbon, *had shown him the efficacy of these solemn and
pompous rites to soothe the distress, to confirm the faith, to mitigate
the fierceness, and to dispel the dark enthusiasm of the vulgar and
he readily forgave their tendency to promote the reign of priesthood

ST. GREGORY. 317

and superstition.' If, at a period wlien credulity and ignorance
were universal, he showed himself in some instances credulous and
ignorant, it seems hardly a reproach to one in other respects so
good and so great.

His charity was boundless, and his vigilance indefatigable : he con-
sidered himself responsible for every sheep of the flock intrusted to
him ; and when a beggar died of hunger in the streets of Rome, he
laid himself under a sentence of penance and excommunication, and
interdicted himself for several days from the exercise of his sacer-
dotal functions.

Such was St. Gregory the Great, the last pope who was canonised :
celestial honours and worldly titles have often been worse — seldom
so well — bestowed.

During the last two years of his life, his health, early impaired by
fasts and vigils, failed entirely, and he was unable to rise from his couch.
He died in 604, in the fourteenth year of his pontificate. They still
preserve, in the church of the Lateran at Rome, his bed, and the little
scourge with which he was wont to keep the choristers in order.

The monastery of St. Andrew, which he founded on the Celian Hill,
is now the church of San Gregorio. To stand on the summit of the
majestic flight of steps which leads to the portal, and look across to the
ruined palace of the Caesars, makes the mind giddy with the rush of
thoughts. There^ before us, the Palatine Hill — ^pagan E-ome in dust :
here, the little cell, a few feet square, where slept in sackcloth the
man who gave the last blow to the power of the Caesars, and first
set his foot as sovereign on the cradle and capital of their greatness.

St. Gregory was in person tall and corpulent, and of a dark com-
plexion, with black hair, and very little beard. He speaks in one of
his epistles of his large size, contrasted with his weakness and pain-
ful infirmities. He presented to the monastery of St. Andrew his
own portrait, and those of his father, and his mother St. Sylvia:
they were still in existence 300 years after his death, and the
portrait of Gregory probably furnished that particular type of
physiognomy which we trace in all the best representations of
him, in which he appears of a tall, large, and dignified person, with
a broad full face, black hair and eyebrows, and little or no beard.

318 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

As he was, next to St. Jerome, the most popular of the Four Doc-
tors, single figures of him abound. They are variously treated : in
general, he bears the tiara as pope, and the crosier with the double
cross, in common with other papal saints ; but his peculiar attribute
is the dove, which in the old pictures is always close to his ear. He
is often seated on a throne in the pontifical robes, wearing the tiara :
one hand raised in benediction ; in the other a book, which represents
his homilies, and other famous works attributed to him : the dove
either rests on his shoulder, or is hovering over his head. He is
thus represented in the fine statue, designed, as it is said, by M.
Angelo, and executed by Cordieri, in the chapel of St. Barbara, in
San Gregorio, Kome ; and in the picture over the altar-piece of his
chapel, to the right of the high altar. In the Salviati Chapel, on
the left, is the ' St. Gregory in prayer,' by Annibal Caracci. He is
seen in front bareheaded, but arrayed in the pontifical habit, kneel-
ing on a cushion, his hands outspread and uplifted ; the dove
descends from on high; the tiara is at his feet, and eight angels
hover around : — a grand, finely-coloured, but, in sentiment, rather
cold and mannered picture.^

By Guercino, St. Gregory seated on a throne, looking upwards,
his hand on an open book, in act to turn the leaves ; the dove hovers
at his shoulder : to the left stands St. Francis Xavier ; on the right,
and more in front, St. Ignatius Loyola. Behind St. Gregory is an
angel playing on the viol, in allusion to his love and patronage of
sacred music; in front an infant angel holds the tiara. The type
usually adopted in figures of St. Gregory is here exaggerated into
coarseness, and the picture altogether appears to me more remarkable
for Guercino's faults than for his beauties.^

Several of the legends connected with the history of St. Gregory
are of singular interest and beauty, and have aff'orded a number of
picturesque themes for Art : they appear to have arisen out of his
exceeding popularity. They are all expressive of the veneration in
which he was held by the people ; of the deep impression left on
their minds by his eloquence, his sanctity, his charity ; and of the

* There is a duplicate in the Bridgewater Gallery. * Sutherland Gal.

ST. GREGORY. 319

I

authority imputed to his numerous writings, which were commonly
said to have been dictated by the Holy Spirit.

1. John the deacon, his secretary, who has left a full account of his
life, declares that he beheld the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove
perched upon his shoulder while he was writing or dictating his famous
homilies. This vision, or rather figure of speech, has been interpreted
as a fact by the early painters. Thus, in a quaint old picture in the
Bologna Gallery, we have St. Gregory seated on a throne writing, the
celestial dove at his ear. A little behind is seen John the deacon,
drawing aside a curtain, and looking into the room at his patron with
an expression of the most naive astonishment.

2. The Archangel Michael, on the cessation of the pestilence,
sheathes his sword on the summit of the Mole of Hadrian. I have
never seen even a tolerable picture of this magnificent subject.
There is a picture in the Vatican, in which Gregory and a procession
of priests are singing litanies, and in the distance a little Mola di
Adriano, with a little angel on the summit ; — curious, but without
merit of 2A\y kind.

3. The Supper of St. Gregory. Jt is related that when Gregory
was only a monk, in the Monastery of St. Andrew, a beggar presented
himself at the gate, and requested alms : being relieved, he came
again and again, and at length nothing was left for the charitable
saint to bestow, but the silver porringer in which his mother, Sylvia,
had sent him 2u potage ; and he commanded that this should be given
to the mendicant. It was his custom, when he became pope, to
entertain every evening at his own table twelve poor men, in remem-
brance of the number of our Lord's apostles. One night, as he sat
at supper with his guests, he saw, to his surprise, not twelve, but
thirteen seated at his table. And he called to his steward, and said
to him, ' Did I not command thee to invite twelve ? and behold,
there are thirteen ! ' And the steward told them over, and replied,
' Holy Father, there are surely twelve only I * and Gregory held his
peace; and after the meal, he called forth the unbidden guest, and
asked him, ' Who art thou? ' And he replied, ^ I am the poor man
whom thou didst formerly relieve ; but my name is the Wonderful, and
throuo^h me thou shalt obtain whatever thou shalt ask of God. Then

820 SACRED AXD LEGENDARY ART.

Gregory knew that he had entertained an angel (or, according to
another version of the story, our Lord Himself). This legend has
been a frequent subject in painting, under the title of ' The Supper
of St. Gregory.' In the fresco in his church at Rome, it is a winged
angel who appears at the supper-table. In the fresco of Paul Veronese,
one of his famous banquet-scenes, the stranger seated at the table
is the Saviour habited as a pilgrim.^ In the picture painted by
Vasari, his masterpiece, now in the Bologna Gallery, he has introduced
a great number of figures and portraits of distinguished personages
of his own time, St. Gregory being represented under the likeness
of Clement YII. The unbidden guest, or angel, bears the features
of the Saviour.

This is one of many beautiful mythic legends, founded on the
words of St. Paul in which he so strongly recommends hospitality as
one of the virtues : ' Be not forgetful to entertain strangers : for
thereby some have entertained angels unawares.' (Heb. xiii. 2.)
Or, as Massinger has rendered the apostolic precept, —

Learn all,
By this example, to look on the poor
"With gentle eyes, for in such habits often
Angels desire an alms.

4. The Mass of St. Gregory. On a certain occasion, when St. Gre-
gory was officiating at the mass, one who was near him doubted the
real presence ; thereupon, at the prayer of the saint, a vision is sud-
denly revealed of the crucified Saviour Himself, who descends upon
the altar, surrounded by the instruments of his passion. This legend
has been a popular subject of painting from the beginning of the
fifteenth century, and is called ' The Mass of St. Gregory.' I have
met with it in every variety of treatment and grouping ; but, however
treated, it is not a pleasing subject. St. Gregory is seen officiating
at the altar, surrounded by his attendant clergy. Sometimes several
saints- are introduced in a poetical manner, as witnesses of the
miracle : as in an old picture I saw in the gallery of Lord Northwick ;
— the crucified Saviour descends from the cross, and stands on the
altar, or is upborne in the air by angels ; while all the incidental
circumstances and instruments of the Passion, — not merely the crown

^ Vicenza. S. Maria del Monte,

ST. GREGORY. 321

of thorns, the spear, the nails, but the kiss of Judas, the soldiers'
dice, the cock that crew to Peter, — are seen floating in the air. As
a specimen of the utmost naivete in this representation maj'- be men-
tioned Albert Diirer's woodcut.

The least offensive and most elegant in treatment is the marble
bas-relief in front of the altar in the Chapel of St. Gregory at Rome.

5. The miracle of the Brandeum. The Empress Constantia sent to
St. Gregory requesting some of the relics of St. Peter and St. Paul.
He excused himself, saying that he dared not disturb their sacred
remains for such a purpose, but he sent her part of a consecrated
cloth {Brandeum) which had enfolded the body of St. John the
Evangelist. The Empress rejected this gift with contempt : where-
upon Gregory, to show that such things are hallowed not so much
in themselves as by the faith of believers, laid the Brandeum on the
altar, and after praying he took up a knife and pierced it, and blood
flowed as from a living body. This incident, called the * miracle
clei Brandei^^ has also been painted. Andrea Sacchi has represented
it in a grand picture now in the Vatican ; the mosaic copy is over
the altar of St. Gregory in St. Peter's. Gregory holds up to view
the bleeding cloth, and the expression of astonishment and convic-
tion in the countenances of the assistants is very fine.

6. St. Gregory releases the soul of the emperor Trajan. In a little
picture in the Bologna Academy, he is seen praying before a tomb,
on which is inscribed Tkajano Impekador ; beneath are two angels
raising the soul of Trajan out of the flames. Such is the usual
treatment of this curious and poetical legend, which is thus related
in the Legenda Aurea: — ^It happened on a time, as Trajan was
hastening to battle at the head of his legions, that a poor widow
flung herself in his path, and cried aloud for justice, and the emperor
stayed to listen to her; and she demanded vengeance for the
innocent blood of her son, killed by the son of the emperor. Trajan
promised to do her justice when he returned from his expedition.
'^ But, Sire," answered the widow, " should you be killed in battle,
who then will do me justice ? " " My successor," replied Trajan.
And she said, ^' What will it signify to you, great emperor, that any
other than yourself should do me justice ? Is it not better that you

VOL. I. s s

822 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

should do this good action yourself than leave another to do it ? "
And Trajan alighted, and having examined into the affair, he gave
up his own son to her in place of him she had lost, and bestowed on
her likewise a rich dowry. Now it came to pass that as Gregory
was one day meditating in his daily walk, this action of the Emperor
Trajan came into his mind, and he wept bitterly to think that a man
so just should be condemned as a heathen to eternal punishment.
And entering into a church he prayed most fervently that the soul of
the good emperor might be released from torment. And a voice said
to him, " I have granted thy prayer, and I have spared the soul of
Trajan for thy sake ; but because thou hast supplicated for one whom,,
the justice of God had already condemned, thou shalt choose one of
two things : either thou shalt endure for two days the fires of
purgatory, or thou shalt be sick and infirm for the remainder of thy
life." Gregory chose the latter, which sufficiently accounts for the
grievous pains and infirmities to which this great and good man was
subjected, even to the day of his death.'

This story of Trajan was extremely popular in the middle ages : it
is illustrative of the character of Gregory, and the feeling which gave
rise to his doctrine of purgatory. Dante twice alludes to it ; he de-
scribes it as one of the subjects sculptured on the walls of Purgatory,
and takes occasion to relate the whole story : —

. . . There was storied on the rock
Th' exalted glory of the Roman prince,
Whose mighty worth moved Gregory to earn
His mighty conquest — Trajan the Emperor.
A widow at his bridle stood attired
In tears and mourning. Round about them trooped
Full throng of knights : and overhead in gold
The eagles floated, struggling with the wind.
The wretch appeared amid all these to say :
' Grant vengeance, Sire ! for, woe beshrew this hearfij
My son is murdered ! ' He, replying, seemed :
* Wait now till I return. ' And she, as one
Made hasty by her grief : * 0 Sire, if thou
Dost not return ? ' — ' Where I am, who then is,
May right thee.' — * What to thee is other's good.
If thou neglect thy own ? * — 'Now comfort thee/
At length he answers. * It beseemeth well
My duty be performed, ere I move hence.'
So justice wills ; and pity bids me stay.' Gary's Dante, Pur<i. K.

ST. GREGORY.

It was tlirougli the efficacy of St. G-regory's intercession that Dante
afterwards finds Trajan in Paradise, seated between King David and
King Hezekiah. {Par, xx.)

As a subject of painting, the story of Trajan was sometimes
selected as an appropriate ornament for a hall of justice. We find
it sculptured on one of the capitals of the pillars of the Ducal Palace
at Venice : there is the figure of the widow kneeling, somewhat
stiff, but very simple and expressive, and over it in rude ancient
letters — ' Trajano Imperador, eke die justizia a la Vedova.^ In the
Town Hall of Ceneda, near Belluna, are the three Judgments {i tre
Giudizi^) painted by Pompeo Amalteo : the Judgment of Solomon,
the Judgment of Daniel, and the Judgment of Trajan. It is painted
in the Town Hall of Brescia by Giulio Campi, one of a series of
eight righteous judgments.

I found the same subject in the Church of St. Thomas of Canter-
bury at Yerona. ' The son of the Emperor Trajan trampling over
the son of the widow ' is a most curious composition by Hans
Schaufelein.^

7. There was a monk, who, in defiance of his vow of poverty,
secreted in his cell three pieces of gold. Gregory, on learning this,
excommunicated him, and shortlj^ afterwards the monk died. When
Gregory heard that the monk had perished in his sin, without receiv-
ing absolution, he was filled with grief and horror ; and he wrote
upon a parchment a prayer and a form of absolution, and gave it to
one of his deacons, desiring him to go to the grave of the deceased
and read it there : on the following night the monk appeared in a
vision, and revealed to him his release from torment.

This story is represented in the beautiful bas-relief in white marble
in front of the altar of his chapel ; it is the last compartment on
the right. The obvious intention of this wild legend is to give
effect to the doctrine of purgatory, and the efficacy of prayers for
the dead.

St. Gregory's merciful doctrine of purgatory also suggested those
pictures so often found in chapels dedicated to the service of the
dead, in which he is represented in the attitude of supplication, while

^ Bartsch, Le Peintre Graveur, vii. 2)4.

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

on one side, or in the background, angels are raising the tormented
souls out of the flames.

In ecclesiastical decoration I have seen the two popes, St. Gelasius,
who reformed the calendar in 494, and St. Celestinus, who arranged
the discipline of the Monastic Orders, added to the series of beatified
Doctors of the Church.

II. THE FOUR GREEK FATHERS.

The Four Greek Fathers are St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the
Great, St. Athanasius, and St. Gregory Nazianzen. To these, in
Greek pictures, a fifth is generally added, St. Cyril of Alexandria.

From the time of the schism between the Eastern and Western
Churches, these venerable personages, who once exercised such an
influence over all Christendom, who preceded the Latin Fathers, and
were in fact their teachers, have been almost banished from the
religious representations of the west of Europe, When they are
introduced collectively as a part of the decoration of an ecclesiastical
edifice, we may conclude in general, that the work is Byzantine and
executed under the influence of Greek artists.

A signal example is the central dome of the baptistery of St.
Mark's at Venice, executed by Greek artists, of the 12th and 13th
centuries. In the four spandrils of the vault are the Greek Fathers
seated, writing (if I well remember), and in the purest Byzantine
style of Art. They occupy the same places here that we find usually
occupied by the Latin Doctors in church decoration : each has his
name inscribed in Greek characters. We have exactly the same
representation in the Cathedral of Monreale at Palermo. The Greek
Fathers have no attributes to distinguish them, and the general
custom in Byzantine Art of inscribing the names over each figure
renders this unnecessary : in general, each holds a book, or, in some
instances, a scroll, which represents his writings; while the right
hand is raised in benediction, in the Greek manner, the first and
second finger extended, and the thumb and third finger forming a
cross. According to the formula published by M. Didron, each of

:l

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. $25

the Greek Fathers bears on a scroll the first words of some remark-
able passage from his works : thus, St. John Chrysostom has ' God,
our God, who hath given us for food the bread of life,' &c. : St.
Basil, ^ None of those who are in the bondage of fleshly desires are
worthy,' &c. : St. Athanasius, ^ Often, and anew, do we flee to
thee, 0 God,' &c. : St. Gregory Nazianzen, ^ God, the holy among
the holies, the thrice holy,' &c. : and St. Cyril, ' Above all, a Yirgin
without sin or blemish,' &c.

The Greek bishops do not wear mitres ; consequently, when in the
Italian or German pictures St. Basil or any of his companions wear
the mitre, it is a mistake arising from the ignorance of the artist.

The Fathers of the Greek Church have been represented by Dome-
nichino at Grotta Ferrata, placed over the cornice and under the
evangelists, their proper place : they are majestic figures, with fine
heads, and correctly draped according to the Greek ecclesiastical
costume. They are placed here with peculiar propriety, because the
convent originally belonged to the Greek order of St. Basil, and the
founder, St. Nilus, was a Greek. -^

The etched outline, from a beautiful ancient Greek miniature, will
give an accurate idea of the characteristic figures and habits of the
Greek Fathers.

As separate devotional and historical representations of these
Fathers do sometimes, though rarely, occur, I shall say a few words
of them individually.

St. John Chrysostom.

Lat. Sanctus Johannes Chrysostom. Ital. San Giovanni Crisostomo, San Giovanni Bocca
d' Oro. Fr. St. Jean Chrysostome. Died Sept. 14, a.d. 407. His festival is celebrated
by the Greeks on the 13th of November, and by the Latin Church on the 27th of January.

St. John, called Chrysostom, or of the Golden Mouth, because of
his extraordinary eloquence, was born at Antioch in 344. His parents
were illustrious, and the career opened to him was of arts and arms ;

1 For an account of St. Nilus, and the foundation of Grotta Ferrata, see the * Legenda
of the Monastic Orders.'

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

but from his infancy the bent of his mind was peculiar. He lost his
father when young ; his mother Arthusia, still in the prime of her
life, remained a widow for his sake, and superintended his education
with care and intelligence. The remark of Sir James Mackintosh
that 'all distinguished men have had able mothers,' appears especially
true of the great churchmen and poets. The mother of St. John
Chrysostom ranks with the Monicas and Sylvias, already described.

John, at the age of twenty, was already a renowned pleader at the
bar. At the age of twenty-six, the disposition to self-abnegation
and the passion for solitude, which had distinguished him from boy-
hood, became so strong, that he wished to retire altogether from the
world ; his legal studies, his legal honours, had become hateful to
liim : he would turn hermit. For a time his mother's tears and
prayers restrained him. He has himself recorded the pathetic re-
monstrance in which she reminded him of all she had done and suf-
fered in her state of widowhood for his sake, and besought him not
to leave her. For the present he yielded : but two years later he fled
from society, and passed five or six years in the wilderness near
Antioch, devoting himself solely to the study of the Scriptures, to
penance and prayer ; feeding on the wild vegetables, and leading a
life of such rigorous abstmence that his health sank under it, and
he was obliged to return to Antioch.

All this time he was not even an ordained priest; but shortly
after he had emerged from the desert, Flavian, bishop of Antioch,
ordained him, and appointed him preacher. At the moment of his
consecration, according to the tradition, a white dove descended on
his head, which was regarded as the sign of immediate inspiration.
He then entered on his true vocation as a Christian orator, the
greatest next to Paul. On one occasion, when the people of Antioch
had offended the Emperor Theodosius, and were threatened with a
punishment like that which had fallen on Thessalonica, the eloquence
of St. John Chrysostom saved them : he was so adored by the people,
that when he was appointed patriarch of Constantinople, it was
necessary to kidnap him, and carry him off from Antioch by a force
of armed soldiers, before the citizens had time to interfere.

From the moment he entered on his high office at Constantinople,
he became the model of a Christian bishop. Humble, self-denying,

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. 827

sleeping on a bare plank, content with a little bread and pulse, lie
entertained with hospitality the poor and strangers : indefatigable as
a preacher, he used his great gift of eloquence to convert his hearers
to what he believed to be the truth: he united the enthusiasm and
the imagination of the poet, the elegant taste of the scholar, the
logic of the pleader, with the inspired earnestness of one who had
authority from above. He was, like St. Jerome, remarkable for
his influence over women ; and his correspondence with one of his
female converts and friends, Olympias, is considered one of the
finest of his works remaining to us ; but, inexorable in his denun-
ciations of vice, without regard to sex or station, he thundered
against the irregularities of the monks, the luxury and profligacy
of the Empress Eudosia, and the servility of her flatterers, and
brought down upon himself the vengeance of that haughty woman,
with whom the rest of his life was one long contest. He was ban-
ished : the voice of the people obliged the emperor to recall him.
Persisting in the resolute defence of his church privileges, and his
animadversions on the court and the clergy, he was again banished ;
and, on his way to his distant place of exile, sank under fatigue
and the cruel treatment of his guards, who exposed him, bare-headed
and bare-footed, to the burning sun of noon : and thus he perished,
in the tenth year of his bishopric, and the sixty-third of his age.
Gibbon adds, that, ^ at the pious solicitation of the clergy and people
of Constantinople, his relics, thirty years after his death, were trans-
ported from their obscure sepulchre to the royal city. The Emperor
Theodosius advanced to receive them as far as Chalcedon, and, falling
prostrate on the cofl&n, implored, in the name of his guilty parents,
Arcadius and Eudosia, the forgiveness of the injured saint.'

It is owing, I suppose, to the intercourse of Venice with the East,
that one of her beautiful churches is dedicated to San Gian Grisostomo,
as they call him there, in accents as soft and sonorous as his own
Greek. Over the high altar is the grandest devotional picture in
which I have seen this saint figure as a chief personage. It is the
masterpiece of Sebastian del Piombo,^ and represents St. John

^ According to Sansovino, begun by Giorgione, and finished by Sebastian.

828 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

Chrysostom throned and in the act of writing in a great book ; behind
him, St. Paul. In front to the right, stands St. John the Baptist,
and behind him St. George as patron of Venice ; to the left Mary
Magdalene, with a beautiful Venetian face ; behind her, St. Cather-
ine, patroness of Venice ; close to St. J. Chrysostom stands St. Lucia
liolding her lamp ; she is here the type of celestial light or wisdom.^
This picture was for a long time attributed to Giorgione. There was
also a very fine majestic figure of this saint by Rubens, in the col-
lection of M. Schamp ; he is in the habit of a Greek bishop ; in one
hand he holds the sacramental cup, and the left hand rests on the
Gospel : the celestial dove hovers near him, and two angels are in
attendance.

I cannot quit the history of St. John Chrysostom without alluding
to a subject well known to collectors and amateurs, and popularly
called ^ La Penitence de St. Jean Chrysostome' It represents a
woman undraped, seated in a cave, or wilderness, wdlh an infant in
her arms ; or lying on the ground with a new-born infant beside her;
in the distance is seen a man with a glory round his head, meagre,
naked, bearded, crawling on his hands and knees in the most abject
attitude : beneath, or at the top, is inscribed S. Johannes Crisostomus.

For a long time this subject perplexed me exceedingly, as I was
quite unable to trace it in any of the biographies of Chrysostom,
ancient or modern : the kindness of a friend, learned in all the
byways as well as the highways of Italian literature, at length assisted
me to an explanation.

The bitter enmity excited against St. John Chrysostom in his life-
time, and the furious vituperations of his adversary, Theophilus of
Alexandria, who denounced him as one stained by every vice, 'hostem
humanitatiSj sacrilegorum principem, immundum dcemonem,'' as a
wretch who had absolutely delivered up his soul to Satan, were appa-
rently disseminated by the monks. Jerome translated the abusive
attack of Theophilus into Latin ; and long after the slanders against
Chrysostom had been silenced in the East, they survived in the West.
To this may be added the slaughter of the Egyptian monks by the

1 Dante, Inf. c. xi.

ST. JOHN CHRY80ST0M.

329

90

The Penance of St. Chrysostom. (Albert Dtirer.)

friends of Chrysostom in the streets of Constantinople ; which, I
suppose, was also retained in the traditions, and mixed up with the
monkish fictions. It seems to have been forgotten who John Chry-
sostom really was ; his name only survived in the popular ballads and
legends as an epitome of every horrible crime ; and to account for
his being, notwithstanding all this, a saint^ was a difficulty which
in the old legend is surmounted after a very original, and I m.ust
needs adds, a very audacious fashion. ' I have,' writes my friend,
' three editions of this legend in Italian, with the title La Ilistoria
di San Giovanni Boccadoro, It is in ottava rima, thirty-six stanzas
in all, occupying two leaves of letter-press. It was originally com-
posed in the fifteenth century, and reprinted again and again, like

VOL. I. T T

830 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

the ballads and tales hawked by itinerant balladmongers, from that
day to this, and as well known to the lower orders as '' Jack the
Giant-killer " here. I will give you the story as succinctly and as
properly as I can. A gentleman of the high roads, named Schitano,
confesses his robberies and murders to a certain Frate, who absolves
him, upon a solemn promise not to do three things —

Che tu non facci falso sacramento,
Ne homicidio, n^ adulterate.

Schitano thereupon takes possession of a cave, and turns Romito
(Hermit) in the wilderness. A neighbouring king takes his
daughter out hunting with him ; a white deer starts across their path ;
the king dashes away in pursuit ten miles or more, forgetting his
daughter ; night comes on ; the princess, left alone in the forest,
wanders till she sees a light, and knocks for admittance at the cave
of Schitano. He fancies at first that it must be the " Demonio,"
but at length he admits her after long hesitation, and turns her
horse out to graze. Her beauty tempts him to break one of his vows ;
the fear of discovery induces him to violate another by murdering
her, and throwing her body into a cistern. The horse, however, is
seen by one of the cavaliers of the court, who knocks and inquires if
he has seen a certain ^^donzella" that way? The hermit swears
that he has not beheld a Christian face for three years, thus breaking
his third vow ; but, reflecting on this three-fold sin with horror, he
imposes on himself a most severe penance ^ un' aspra penitenza,")
to wit —

Di stare sette anni nell* aspro diserto.

Pane non manger6 n^ ber5 vino,

N6 mai risguarder6 il ciel scoperto,

Non parler5 Hebraico n^ Latino,

Per fin che quel ch* io dico non e certo,

Che un fantin di sei di porga favelia,

" Perdonato t* ha Die ; va alia tua cella."

That is, he swears that for seven years he will neither eat bread nor
drink wine, nor look up in the face of heaven, nor speak either
Hebrew or Latin, until it shall come to pass that an infant of seven
days old shall open its mouth and say, " Heaven hath pardoned thee

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. 831

— go in peace." So, stripping off his clothes, he crawls on hands
and knees like the beasts of the field, eating grass and drinking
water.

' Nor did his resolution fail him — he persists in this " aspra peni-
tenza " for seven years —

Sette anni e sette giorni nel diserto ;
Come le bestie andava lui carpone,
E niai non risguardb il ciel scoperto,
Peloso egli era a tnodo d' un montone ;
Spine e fango il suo letto era per certo,
Del suo peccato havea contrizione ;
E ogni cosa facea con gran fervore,
Per purgar il suo fallo e grand' errore.

In the meantime it came into the king's head to draw the covers
where the hermit was leading this life. The dogs of course found,
but neither they nor the king could make anything of this new
species of animal, '' eke pareva un orsoJ^'* So they took him home in
a chain and deposited him in their zoological collection, where he
refused meat and bread, and persisted in grazing. On new year's
day the queen gives birth to a son, who, on the seventh day after he
is born, says distinctly to the hermit, —

Torna alia tua cella,
Che Dio t' ha perdonato il tuo peccato,
Levati su, Romito ! ora favella !

But the hermit does not speak as commanded ; he makes signs that
he will write. The king orders the inkstand to be brought, but
there is no ink in it: so Schitano at once earns his surname of
Boccadoro (Chrysostom) by a simple expedient : he puts the pen to
his mouth, wets it with his saliva, and writes in letters of gold —

Onde la penna in bocca si metteva,
E a scrivere cotninci6 senza dimoro,
Col sputo, lettere che parevan d' ore !

* After seven years and seven days, he opens his golden mouth in
speech, and confesses his foul crimes to the king; cavaliers are
despatched in search of the body of the princess ; as they approach
the cavern they hear celestial music and in the end they bring the

332 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

donzella out of the cistern alive and well, and very sorry to leave the
blessed Virgin and the angels, with whom she had been passing her
time most agreeably : she is restored to her parents with universal
festa e allegrezza, and she announces to the hermit that he is par-
doned and may return to his cell, which he does forthwith, and ends
in leading the life of a saint, and being beatified. The " discreti
auditori " are invited to take example —

Da questo Santo pien di leggiadria
Che Iddio sempre perdona a' peccatori,

and are finally informed that they may purchase this edifying history
on easy terms, to wit, a halfpenny —

Due quattrini dia senza far piii parole.

The price, however, rose ; for in the next century the line is altered
thus : —

Pero ciascun che comperarne vuole,
Tre quattrini mi dia senza piu parole.'

The woodcuts prefixed to the ballad represent this saintly Nebu-
chadnezzar on all fours, surprised by the king with his hunstmen
and dogs ; but no female figure, as in the German prints, in which
the German version of the legend has evidently been in the mind of
the artists. It differs in some respects from the Italian ballad. I
shall therefore give as much of it here as will explain the artistic
treatment of the story.

* When John Chrysostom was baptized, the Pope ^ stood godfather.
At seven years old he went to school, but he was so dull and back-
ward, that he became the laughing-stock of his schoolfellows. Un-
able to endure their mockery, he took refuge in a neighbouring
church, and prayed to the Virgin ; and a voice whispered, " Kiss me
on the mouth, and thou fehalt be endowed with all learning." He.
did so, and, returning to the school, he surpassed all his companions,

^ The Greek word Papa, here translated der Papst (the Pope), betrays the Eastern
origin of the story. It is the general title of the Greek priesthood, and means simply a
priest, elevated in the German legend into ' the Pope.'

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. 333

80 that they remained in astonishment : as they looked, they saw a
golden ring or streak round his mouth, and asked him how it came
there ? and when he told them they wondered yet more. Thence he
obtained the name of Chrysostom. John was much beloved by his
godfather the Pope, who ordained him priest at a very early age ; but
the first time he offered the sacrifice of the mass, he was struck to
the heart by his unworthiness, and resolved to seek his salvation in
solitude ; therefore, throwing off his priestly garments, he fled from
the city, and made his dwelling in a cavern of the rock, and lived
there a long while in prayer and meditation.

^ Now not far from the wilderness in which Chrysostom dwelt, was
the capital of a great king ; and it happened that one day, as the
princess his daughter, who was young and very fair, was walking
with her companions, there came a sudden and violent gust of wind,
which lifted her up and carried her away, and set her down in the
forest, far off; and she wandered about till she came to the cave of
Chrysostom, and knocked at the door. He, fearing some temptation
of the devil, would not let her in ; but she entreated, and said, ^' I
am no demon, but a Christian woman ; and if thou leavest me here,
the wild beasts will devour me ! " So he yielded perforce, and arose
and let her in. And he drew a line down the middle of his cell, and
said, " That is your part, this is mine ; and neither shall pass this
line." But this precaution was in vain, for passion and temptation
overpowered his virtue; he overstepped the line, and sinned.
Both repented sorely ; and Chrysostom, thinking that if the damsel
remained longer in his cave it would only occasion further sin,
carried her to a neighbouring precipice, and flung her down. When
he had done this deed, he was seized with horror and remorse ; and
he departed and went to Eome to his godfather the Pope, and
confessed all, and entreated absolution. But his godfather knew
him not ; and, being seized with horror, he drove him. forth, and
refused to absolve him. So the unhappy sinner fled to the wilder-
ness, and made a solemn vow that he would never rise from the
earth nor look up, but crawl on his hands and knees, until he had
expiated his great sin and was absolved by Heaven.
, ' When he had thus crawled on the earth for fifteen years, the queen
brought forth a son ; and when the Pope came to baptize the child,

334 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

the infant oj>ened its mouth and said, " I will not be baptized by thee,
but by St. John ; " and he repeated this three times : and none could
understand this miracle ; but the Pope was afraid to proceed. In the
meantime, the king's huntsmen had gone to the forest to bring home
game for the christening feast : there as they rode, they beheld a
strange beast creeping on the ground; and not knowing what it
might be, they threw a mantle over it and bound it in a chain and
brought it to the palace. Many came to look on this strange beast,
and with them came the nurse with the king's son in her arms ; and
immediately the child opened its mouth and spake, '' John, come
thou and baptize me!" He answered, *^If it be God's will, speak
again ! " And the child spoke the same words a second and a third
time. Then John stood up ; and the hair and the moss fell from his
body, and they brought him garments ; and he took the child, and
baptized him with great devotion.

' When the kiog heard his confession, he thought, ^^ Perhaps this
was my daughter, who was lost and never found ; " and he sent
messengers into the forest to seek for the remains of his daughter,
that her bones at least might rest in consecrated ground. When
they came to the foot of the precipice, there they found a beautiful
woman seated, naked, and holding a child in her arms ; and John
said to her, " Why sittest thou here alone in the wilderness ? " And
she said, " Dost thou not know me ? I am the woman who came to
thy cave by night, and whom thou didst hurl down this rock ! "
Then they brought her home with great joy to her parents.' ^

This extravagant legend becomes interesting for two reasons : it
shows the existence of the popular feeling and belief with regard to
Chrysostom, long subsequent to those events which roused the
hatred of the early monks ; and it has been, from its popular
notoriety, embodied in some rare and valuable works of art, which
all ofo under the name of * the Penance or Penitence of Johannes
Chrysostom or Crisostomos.'

1. A rare print by Lucas Cranach, composed and engraved by
himself. In the centre is an undraped woman reclining on the

* Kobtirgher, * Legendensamralung, ' 1488, p. 325. Heller's * Leben und Werke Albreclit
Diirer's,' p. 440.

ST. BASIL THE GREAT. 335

ground against a rock, and contemplating her sleeping infant, which
is lying on her lap ; a stag, a hind crouching, a pheasant feeding near
her, express the solitude of her life ; in the background is * the
savage man ' on all fours, and browsing : here, he has no glory
round his head. The whole composition is exceedingly picturesque.

2. A rare and beautiful print by B. Beham, and repeated by Hans
Sibald Beham, represents a woman lying on the ground with her
back turned to the spectator; a child is near her; Chrysostom is
seen crawling in the background, with the glory round his head.

3. A small print by Albert Diirer, also exquisitely engraved (from
which I give a sketch). Here the woman is sitting at the entrance
of a rocky cave, feeding her child from her bosom : in the back-
ground the ' savage man' crawling on all fours, and a glory round
his head. This subject has been called St. Genevieve of Brabant ;
but it is evidently the same as in the two last-named compositions.

All these prints, being nearly contemporaneous, show that the
legend must have been particularly popular about this time (1509 —
1520). There is also an old French version of the story which I
have not seen.

St. Basil the Great.

Lat St. Basilius Magnus. Jtal. San Basilio Magno. Fr. St. Basile. (June 14, a.d. 380.)

St. Basil, called the Great, was born at Cesarea in Cappadocia, in
the year 328. He was one of a family of saints. His father St.
Basil, his mother St. Emmelie, his two brothers St. Gregory of Nyssa
and St. Peter of Sebaste, and his sister St. Macrina, were all dis-
tinguished for their sanctity, and renowned in the Greek calendar.
The St. Basil who takes rank as the second luminary of the Eastern
Church, and whose dogmatical and theological works influenced
the faith of his own age, and consequently of om's, was the greatest
of all. But, notwithstanding his importance in the Greek Church,
he figures so seldom in the productions of Western Art, that I shall
content myself with relating just so much of his life and actions
as may render the few representations of him interesting and
intelligible.

836 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

He owed his first education to his grandmother St^ Macrina, the
elder, a woman of singular capacity and attainments, to whom he
has in various parts of his works acknowledged his obligations. For
several years he pursued his studies in profane learning, philosophy,
law, and eloquence, at Constantinople, and afterwards at Athens,
where he had two companions and fellow-students of very opposite
character: Gregory of Nazianzen, afterwards the Saint; and Julian,
afterwards the Apostate,

The success of the youthful Basil in all his studies, and the reputa-
tion he had obtained as an eloquent pleader, for a time swelled his
heart with vanity, and would have endangered his salvation but for
the influence of his sister, St. Macrina, who in this emergency pre-
served LI:ii from himself, and elevated his mind to far higher aims
than those of mere worldly science and worldly distinction. From
that period, and he was then not more than twenty-eight, Basil
turned his thoughts solely to the edification of the Christian Church ;
but first he spent some years in retreat among the hermits of the
desert, as was the fashion of that day, living, as they did, in abstin-
ence, poverty, and abstracted study ; acknowledging neither country,
family, home, nor friends, nor fortune, nor worldly interests of any
kind, .but with his thoughts fixed solely on eternal life in another
world. In these austerities he, as was also usual, consumed and
ruined his bodily health; and remained to the end of his life a
feeble wretched invalid, — a circumstance which was supposed to
contribute greatly to his sanctity. He was ordained priest in 362,
and bishop of Cesarea in 370 ; his ordination on the 14th of June
being kept as one of the great feasts of the Eastern Church.

On the episcopal throne he led the same life of abstinence and
humility as in a cavern of the desert ; and contended for the doctrine
of the Trinity against the Arians, but with less of vehemence, and
more of charity, than the other Doctors engaged in the same con-
troversy. The principal event of his life was his opposition to the
Emperor Yalens, who professed Arianism, and required that, in the
Church of Cesarea, Basil should perform the rites according to the
custom of the Arians. The bishop refused : he was threatened with
exile, confiscation, death: he persisted. The emperor, fearing a
tumult, resolved to appear in the church on the day of the Epiphany,

ST. BASIL THE GREAT. 337

but not to communicate. He came, hoping to overawe the imprac-
ticable bishop, surrounded by all his state, his courtiers, his guards.
He found Basil so intent on his sacred office as to take not the
slightest notice of him; those of the clergy around him continued
to chant the service, keeping their eyes fixed in the profoundest awe
and respect on the countenance of their bishop. Yalens, in a situa-
tion new to him, became agitated : he had brought his oblation ; he
advanced with it ; but the ministers at the altar, not knowing whether
Basil would accept it, dared not take it from his hands. Valens
stood there for a moment in sight of all the people, rejected before
the altar, — he lost his presence of mind, trembled, swooned, and
would have fallen to the earth, if one of the attendants had not re-
ceived him in his arms. A conference afterwards took place between
Basil and the emperor; but the latter remained unconverted, and
some concessions to the Catholics was all that the bishop obtained.

St. Basil died in 379, worn out by disease, and leaving behind
him many theological writings. His epistles, above all, are cele-
brated, not only as models of orthodoxy, but of style.

Of St. Basil, as of St. Gregory and St John Chrysostom, we have
the story of the Holy Grhost, in visible form as a dove of wonderful
whiteness, perched on his shoulder, and inspiring his words when
he preached. St. Basil is also celebrated as the founder of Mona-
chism in the East. He was the first who enjoined the vows of
poverty, chastity, and obedience ; and his Rule became the model of
all other monastic Orders. There is, in fact, no other Order in the
Greek Church, and when either monks or nuns appear in a Greek
or a Russian picture they must be Basilicans, and no other : the
habit is a plain black tunic with a cowl, the tunic fastened round
the waist with a girdle of cord or leather. Such is the dress of the
Greek caloyer, and it never varies.

The devotional figures of St. Basil represent him, or ought to repre-
sent him, in the Greek pontificals, bareheaded, and with a thin worn
countenance, as he appears in the etching of the Greek Fathers.

' The Emperor Yalens in the church at Cesarea,' an admirably
picturesque subject, has received as little justice as the scene between
VOL. I. u u

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

Ambrose and Theodosius. When the French painter Subleyras was
at Rome in 1745, he raised himself to name and fame by his portrait
of Benedict XIY./ and received, through the interest of his friend
Cardinal Valenti, the commission to paint a picture for one of the
mosaics ijj St. Peter's. The subject selected was the Emperor
Valens fainting in presence of St. Basil. . We have all the pomp of
the scene : — the altar, the incense, the richly attired priests on one
side; on the other, the imperial court. It is not easy to find fault,
for the picture is well drawn, well composed, in the mannered taste
of that time ; well coloured, rather tenderly than forcibly ; and
Lanzi is enthusiastic in his praise of the draperies ; yet, as a whole,
it leaves the mind unimpressed. As usual, the original sketch for
this picture far excels the large composition.^

The prayers of St. Basil were supposed by the Armenian Chris-
tians, partly from his sanctity, and partly from his intellectual
endowments, to have a peculiar, almost resistless, power; so that
he not only redeemed souls from purgatory, but even lost angels from
the abyss of hell. ' On the sixth day of the creation, when the
rebellious angels fell from heaven through that opening in the
firmament which the Armenians call Arocea, and we the Galaxy,
one unlucky angel, who had no participation in their sin, but seems
to have been entangled in the crowd, fell with them.' (A moral, I
presume, on the consequences of keeping bad compan3^) * And this
unfortunate angel was not restored till he had obtained, it is not
said how, the prayers of St. Basil. Kis condition meantime, from
the sixth dsij of the creation to the fourth century of the Christian
era, must have been even more uncomfortable than that of Klop-
stock's repentant demon in " The Messiah." '

There are many other beautiful legendary stories of St. Basil, but,
as I have never met with them in any form of Art, I pass them over
here. One of the most striking has been versified by Southey in his
ballad-poem, *A11 for Love.' It would afi'ord a great variety of
picturesque subjects.

1 Sutherland Gal.
* * La Metsc de saint Basile.' Louvre, !l^cole frangaise, No. 503.

ST. ATHANASIUS. ggp

St. Athanasius.

Ldt. S. Athatiasius, Pater Orthodoxige. Ital. Sant' Atanasio. Fr, St. Athanase.
(May 2, a.d. 373.)

St. Athanasius, whose famous Greed remains a stumbling-block
in Christendom, was born at Alexandria, about the j^ear 298 ; he was
consequently the eldest of the Greek Fathers, though he does not in
that Church take the first rank. He, like the others, began his
career by the study of profane literature, science, and eloquence ; but,
seized by the religious spirit of the age, he, too, fled to the desert,
and became, for a time, the pupil of St. Anthony. He returned to
Alexandria, and was ordained deacon. His first appearance as a
public character was at the celebrated council of Nice (a.d. 325),
where he opposed Arius and his partisans with so much zeal and
eloquence, that he was thenceforth regarded as the great pillar of
orthodoxy. He became Bishop of Alexandria the following year;
and the rest of his life was a perpetual contest with the Arians. The
great schism of the early Church blazed at this time in the East and
in the West, and Athanasius, by his invincible perseverance and
intrepidity, procured the victory for the Catholic party. He died in
372, after having been Bishop of Alexandria forty-six years, of which
twenty years had been spent in exile and tribulation.

It is curious that, notwithstanding his fame and his importance in
the Church, St. Athanasius should be, as a patron and a subject of
Art, of all saints the most unpopular. He figures, of course, as one
of the series of Greek Doctors ; but I have never met with any
separate representation of him, and I know not any church dedicated
to him, nor any picture representing the vicissitudes of his unquiet
life, fraught as it was with strange reverses and picturesque incidents.
Such ma^ exist, but in Western Art, at least, they have never been
prominent. According to the Greek formula, he ought to be
represented old, bald-headed, and with a long white beard, as in the
etching.

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

St. Gregory Nazianzen.

Gr. St. Gregory Theologos. Lat. S. Gregorius Nazianzenus. Ital. San Gregorio Nazianzeno.
Fr. St. Gr^goire de Naziance. Ger. St. Gregor von ^azianz. (May 9, a.d. 390.)

This Doctor, like St. Basil, was one of a family of saints ; his father,
St. Gregory, having been bishop of Nazianzus before him ; his mother,
St. Nonna, famous for her piety ; and two of his sisters, St. Gor-
gonia and St. Cesarea, also canonized. Gregory was born about the
year 328 ; and his mother, who fondly believed that he had been
granted to her prayers, watched over his early education, and guided
his first steps in piety and literature. When a boy, he had a singular
dream, which he has related himself. He beheld in his sleep two
virgins of celestial beauty; they were clothed in white garments, and
their faces shone upon him like two stars out of heaven : they took
him in their arms and kissed him as if he had been their child. He,
charmed by their virgin beauty and their caresses, asked who they were,
and whence they came ? One of them replied, ' I am called Chastity,
and my sister here is Temperance ; we come to thee from Paradise,
where we stand continually before the throne of Christ, and taste
ineffable delights : come to us, my son, and dwell with us for ever ; '
and having spoken thus, they left him and flew upwards to heaven.
He followed them with longing eyes till they disappeared, and as he
stretched his arms towards them he awoke.

This dream — how natural in a boy educated between a tender
mother, who had shielded him, as only mothers can, against all
sinful temptations, and a lovely and saintly sister ! — he regarded as
a direct revelation from heaven : it decided his future life, and he
made a vow of perpetual continence and temperance. Like the
other Greek doctors, he began by the study of profane literature
and rhetoric. He went to Athens, where he formed an enduring
friendship with St. Basil, and pursued his studies with Julian,
afterwards Caesar and Apostate. After leaving Athens, in his
thirtieth year, he was baptized ; and, devoting himself solemnly to
the service of God and the study of the Scriptures, like his friend
Basil, he destroyed his health by his austerities and mortifications :

ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN. 341

he confesses that they were wholly repugnant to his nature — a
nature sensitive, imaginative, poetical; but this of course only
added to their merit and efficacy. His aged father withdrew him
from his solitude, and ordained him as his coadjutor : in 362 he
succeeded to the bishopric of Nazianzus : but great part of his time
was still spent at Constantinople, whither he was invited to preach
against the Arians. It was a strange spectacle to see, in the capital
of the world, a man, from a distant province and an obscure town,
of small shrunken stature, bald-headed, wrinkled, haggard with
vigils and fasting, poor, ill-clothed, and in his address unpolished
and abrupt, stand up to oppose himself to a luxurious court and
prevalent sect. The people began by stoning him. ; but at length
his earnestness and eloquence overcame all opposition.

Religious disputes were the fashion at that time in Constantinople,
not merely among the priesthood, but among the laity, the lawyers,
and above all the women, who were heard, in assemblies and at
feasts, at home and abroad, declaiming and arguing on the most
abstruse mysteries of the evangelical doctrine, till they lost temper
and modesty : — so true it is, that there is nothing new under the
sun. This was in 378, and St. Gregory found more difficulty in
silencing their squabbles than in healing the schisms of the Church.
He was ordained Bishop of Constantinople by the favour of Theo-
dosius ; but, unable to endure the odious cabals and uncharitable con-
tests which at that time distracted and disgraced Christianity, he
resigned his sacred office, and retired to a small paternal estate, where
he lived, with his usual self-denial and austerity, till his death. He
composed in his retreat a number of beautiful poems in his native
Greek : he was, in fact, the earliest Christian poet on record. These
poems are not hymns only, but lyrics, in which he poured forth his
soul, his aspirations, his temptations, his joys, his sufferings, his
plaintive supplications to Christ, to aid him iu his perpetual combats
against a too vivid imagination, and feelings and passions which not
even age and penance had subdued.

St. Gregory ItsTazianzen ought to be represented as an old man
wasted by fasting and vigils, with a bald head, a long beard of a
reddish colour, and eyebrows the same. He is always the last in a

•

842 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

series of the Four Greek Fathers, and, though often occurring in
Greek Art, the popularity of St. Gregory the Great has completely
banished St. Gregory the Poet from Western Art.

There remains, however, a very valuable and singular monument
to the honour of St. Gregory Nazianzen, in the Greek MS. of his
sermons preserved in the Imperial Library at Paris, and adorned
with Byzantine miniatures, which must once have been beautiful
and brilliant: ruined as they are, they present some of the most
ancient examples which remain to us of the treatment of many
sacred subjects from the Old and the New Testament, and give a
high idea of the classic taste and the skill of the Byzantine limners
of the ninth centurj^ Besides the sacred subjects, we have nume-
rous scenes interspersed from the life of Gregory himself, his friend
St. Basil, and the Emperor Theodosius. As these are subjects which
are exceptional, I need not describe them. Of the style of the
miniatures I have already spoken,- and given one example (t\ p. 75).

. . St. Cyril.

Zat. S. Cyrillus. Ital San Cirillo. Fr. S't. Cyrille. (Jan. 28, a.d. Ui.)

gff. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria from the year 412 to 444, was
famou^i^ his time as deeply engaged in all the contests which dis-
turbed the eaj-ly Christimi Church. He has left a great number of
theological writings, which are regarded as authority in matters of
faith. He appgars *to have been violent against the so-called
heresies of that day, and opposed Nestorius with the same deter-
mined zeal and inexorable firmness with which Athanasius had
opposed Arius. The ascendency of Cyril was disgraced by the death
of the famous female mathematician and philosopher Hypatia, mur-
dered with horrible cruelty, and within the walls of a church, by the
fanatic followers of the Patriarch, if he did not himself connive at it.
He is much more venerated in the Greek than in the Latin Church.
In the Greek representations he is the only bishop who has his head
covered ; he wears a veil or hood, coming over his head, falling down
on his shoulders, and the front embroidered with- a cross, as in the
illustration.

With the Greek Fathers I conclude the list of those saints who are
generally represented in their collective character, grouped, or in a
series.

ST. MARY MAGDALENE.

843

)t, iMarg iWaglialene, ^t* iWartlja, g)t. tajaruiS,

^t jWarimin, g)t. iHarcella,
bt. iWarg 0f €ggpt, anli tlje aseatifieB penitents.

St. Mary Magdalene.

Lat. Sancta Maria Magdalena. Ital. Santa Maria Maddalena. Fr. La Madeleine. La
Sainte Demoiselle pdcberesse. (July 22, a.d. 68.) Patroness of Provence, of
Marseilles, and of frail and penitent women.

Of all the personages who figure, in history, in poetry, in art, Mary
Magdalene is at once the most unreal and the most real : — the most
unreal, if we attempt to fix her identity, which has been a subject of
dispute for ages ; the most real, if we consider her as having been,
for ages, recognised and accepted in every Christian heart as the
impersonation of the penitent sinner absolved through faith and love.
In this, her mythic character, she has been surrounded by associations
which have become fixed in the imagination, and which no reason-
ing, no array of facts, can dispel. This is not the place to enter into
disputed points of biblical criticism ; they are quite beside our present
purpose. Whether Mary Magdalene, ' out of whom Jesus cast seven
devils,' Mary of Bethany, and the ' woman who was a sinner,' be, as
some authorities assert, three distinct persons, or, as others affirm,
one and the same individual under different designations, remains a
question open to dispute, nothing having been demonstrated on
either side, from Scripture or from tradition ; and I cannot presume
even to give an opinion where doctors — and doctors of the Church,
too — disagree ; Origen and St. Chrysostom taking one side of the
question, St. Clement and St Gregory the other. Fleury, after
citing the opinions of both sides, thus beautifully sums up the whole
question : — ' II importe de nepas croire tem6rairement ce que I'Evan-
gile ne dit point, et de ne pas mettre la religion a suivre aveugle-
ment toutes les opinions populaires : la/oi est trop precieuse pour la
prodiguer ainsi ; mais la charite Test encore plus; et ce qui est le

844 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

plus important, c'est d'eviter les disputes qui peuvent I'alterer tant
soit peu.' And this is most true ; — in liis time the fast hold which the
Magdalene had taken of the affections of the people was not to be
shaken by theological researches and doubts. Here critical accuracy-
was nothing less than profanation and scepticism, and to have at-
tacked the sanctity of the Blessed Mary Magdalene would have em-
bittered and alienated many kindly and many believing spirits. It
is difficult to treat of Mary Magdalene ; and this difficulty would be
increased infinitely if it were absolutely necessary to enter on the
much- vexed question of her scriptural character and identity ; one
thing only appears certain, — that such a person, whatever might have
been her veritable appellation, did exist. The woman who, under the
name of Mp.ry Magdalene, — whether that name be rightfully or wrong-
fully bestowed, — stands before us sanctified in the imagination and in
the faith of the people in her combined character of Sinner and of
Saint, as the first-fruits of Christian penitence, — is a reality, and not
a fiction. Even if we would, we cannot do away with the associa-
tions inseparably connected with her name and her image. Of all
those to whom much has been forgiven, she was the first ; of all the
tears since ruefully shed at the foot of the cross of suffering, hers
were the first ; of all the hopes which the Resurrection has since dif-
fused , through nations and generations of men, hers w^ere the first.
To her sorrowful image how many have looked up through tears,
and blessed the pardoning grace of which she was the symbol — or
rather the impersonation ! Of the female saints, some were the chosen
patrons of certain virtues — others of certain vocations ; but the ac-
cepted and glorified penitent threw her mantle over all, and more
especially over those of her own sex who, having gone astray, were
recalled from error and from shame, and laid down their wrongs,
their sorrows, and their sins in trembling humility at the feet of
the Redeemer.

Nor is it only the popularity of Mary Magdalene as the representa-
tive and the patroness of repentant sinners which has multiplied
her image through all Christendom. As a subject for painting,

Whether the fair one sinner it or saint it,

it is rich in picturesque capabilities. It combines all that can inspire

ST. MARY MAGDALENE. 845

with all that can chasten the fancy ; yet, when we review what has
been done, how inadequate the result ! In no class of subjects have
the mistakes of the painters, even the most distinguished, been so
conspicuous as in the representation of the penitent Magdalene ; and
it must be allowed that, with all its advantages and attractions, it
is a subject full of perils and difficulties. Where the penitent pre-
vails, the saint appears degraded; where the wasted, unclad form is
seen attenuated by vigils and exposed in haggard unseemliness, it is
a violation of that first great rule of Art which forbids the repulsive
and the painful. And herein lies the fault of the earlier schools,
and particularly of the old Greek and German painters; — their
matter-of-fact ugliness would be intolerable, if not redeemed by the
intention and sentiment. On the other hand, where sensual beauty
has obviously been the paramount idea in the artist's work, defeating
its holiest purpose and perverting its high significance, the violation
of the moral sentiment is j^et more revolting. This is especially the
fault of the later painters, more particularly of the schools of Venice
and Bologna : while the French painters are yet worse, adding af-
fectation to licentiousness of sentiment; the Abbe Mery exclaims
with reasonable and pious indignation against that ' air de galanterie'
which in his time was regarded as characteristic of Mary Magdalene.
The ^armoyantes' penitents of Greuze — Magdalenes a la Pompadour
— are more objectionable to my taste than those of Rubens.

I shall give the legend of the Magdalene here as it was accepted
by the people and embodied by the arts of the middle ages, setting
aside those Eastern traditions which represent the Mary of Bethany
and the Magdalene as distinct personages, and place the death and
burial-place of Mary Magdalene at Ephesus. Our business is with
the Western legend, which has been the authority for Western Art.
This legend, besides attributing to one individual, and blending into
one narrative, the very few scattered notices in the Gospels, has
added some other incidents, inconceivably wild and incredible, leav-
ing her, however, the invariable attributes of the frail loving woman,
the sorrowing penitent, and the devout enthusiastic saint.

Mary Magdalene was of the district of Magdala, on the shores of

VOL. I. XX

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

the Sea of Galilee, where stood her castle, called Magdalon ; she was
the sister of Lazarus and of Martha, and they were the children of
parents reputed noble, or, as some say, of royal race. On the death
of their father, Syrus, they inherited vast riches and possessions in
land, which were equally divided between them. Lazarus betook
himself to the military life; Martha ruled her possessions with great
discretion, and was a model of virtue and propriety, — ^perhaps a little
too much addicted to worldly cares; Mary, on the contrary, abandoned
herself to luxurious pleasures, and became at length so notorious for
her dissolute life, that she was known through all the country round
only as ' the sinner.' Her discreet sister, Martha, frequently re-
buked her for these disorders, and at length persuaded her to listen
to the exhortations of Jesus, through which her heart was touched
and converted. The seven demons which possessed her, and which
were expelled by the power of the Lord, were the seven deadly sins
to which she was given over before her conversion. On one occasion
Martha entertained the Saviour in her house, and, being anxious to
feast him worthily, she was ^cumbered with much serving.* Mary,
meanwhile, sat at the feet of Jesus, and heard his words, which com-
pleted the good work of her conversion ; and when, some time after-
wards, he supped in the house of Simon the Pharisee, she followed
him thither, ' and she brought an alabaster box of ointment, and
began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hair
of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment ;
and He said unto her. Thy sins are forgiven.' She became afterwards
one of the most devoted of his followers ; ' ministered to him of her
substance ; ' attended him to Calvary, and stood weeping at the foot
of the cross. She, with the other Mary, watched by his tomb, and
was the first to whom he appeared after the resurrection ; her un-
faltering faith, mingled as it was with the intensest grief and love,
obtained for her this peculiar mark of favour. It is assumed by
several commentators that our Saviour appeared first to Mary
Magdalene, because she, of all those whom he had left on earth, had
most need of consolation : — ' The disciples went arcay to their own
home ; hut Mary stood 7vithout the sepulchre, weeping J*

Thus far the notices in the Gospel and the suggestions of commen-

ST. MART MAGDALENE. 347

tators : the old Provencal legend then continues the story. After the
ascension, Lazarus with his two sisters, Martha and Mary; with Maxi-
min, one of the seventy- two disciples, from whom they had received
baptism ; Cedon, the blind man whom our Saviour had restored to
sight ; and Marcella, the handmaiden who attended on the two sis-
ters, were by the heathens set adrift in a vessel without sails, oars,
or rudder ; but, guided by Providence, they were safely borne over
the sea till they landed in a certain harbour which proved to be
Marseilles, in the country now called France. The people of the
land were pagans, and refused to give the holy pilgrims food or
shelter ; so they were fain to take refuge under the porch of a temple ;
and Mary Magdalene preached to the people, reproaching them for
their senseless worship of dumb idols; and though at first they
would not listen, yet being after a time convinced by her eloquence,
and by the miracles performed by her and by her sister, they were
converted and baptized. And Lazarus became, after the death of
the good Maximin, the first bishop of Marseilles.

These things being accomplished, Mary Magdalene retired to a de-
sert not far from the city. It was a frightful barren wilderness, in
the midst of horrid rocks and caves ; and here for thirty years she
devoted herself to solitary penance for the sins of her past life, which
she had never ceased to bewail bitterly. During this long seclusion,
she was never seen or heard of, and it was supposed that she was
dead. She fasted so rigorously, that but for the occasional visits of
the angels, and the comfort bestowed by celestial visions, she must
have perished. Every day during the last 3^ears of her penance, the
angels came down from heaven and carried her up in their arms into
regions where she was ravished by the sounds of unearthly harmony,
and beheld the glory and the joy prepared for the sinner that re-
penteth. One day a certain hermit, who dwelt in a cell on one of
those wild mountains, having wandered farther than usual from his
home, beheld this wondrous vision — the Magdalene in the arms of
ascending angels, who were singing songs of triumph as they bore
her upwards ; and the hermit, when he had a little recovered from his
amazement, returned to the city of Marseilles, and reported what he
had seen. According to some of the legends, Mary Magdalene died
within the walls of the Christian church, after receiving the sacra-

848 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

ment from the hand of St. Maximin ; but the more popular accounts
represent her as dying in her solitude, while angels watched over
and ministered to her.

The middle of the thirteenth century was an era of religious excite-
ment all over the south of Europe. A sudden fit of penitence — ' una
subita compunzione,' as an Italian author calls it — seized all hearts ;
relics, and pilgrimages, and penances, and monastic ordinances filled
all minds. About this period, certain remains, supposed to be those
of Mary Magdalene and Lazarus, were discovered at a place since
called St. Maximin, about twenty miles north of Toulon. The dis-
covery strongly excited the devotion and enthusiasm of the people ;
and a church was founded on the spot by Charles, Count of Provence
(the brother of St. Louis), as early as 1279. A few years afterwards,
this prince was vanquished and taken prisoner by the king of
Aragon, and when at length set free after a long captivity, he ascribed
his deliverance particularly to the intercession of his chosen patroness,
Mary Magdalene. This incident greatly extended her fame as a
saint of power ; and from this time we may date her popularity, and
those sculptural and pictorial representations of her, under various
aspects, which, from the fourteenth century to the present time,
have so multiplied, that scarcely any Catholic place of worship is to
be found without her image. In fact, it is difficult for us, in these
days, to conceive, far more difficult to sympathise with, the passion-
ate admiration and devotion with which she was regarded by her
votaries in the middle ages. The imputed sinfulness of her life only
brought her nearer to them. Those who did not dare to lift up their
eyes to the more saintly models of purity and holiness, — to the mar-
tyrs who had suffered in the cause of chastity, — took courage to in-
voke her intercession. The extravagant titles bestowed upon her in
the middle ages — ' ' Tamante de Jesus- Christ,'^ 'la bien-aimee du
Sauveur^ ' la tres-saincte demoiselle pecheresse^ — and others whicli
I should hardly dare to transcribe, show the spirit in which she was
worshipped, particularly in the south of France, and the kind of
chivalrous sentiment which mingled with the devotion of her adorers.
I found in an old French sermon a eulogium of Mary Magdalene,
which for its eloquence and ingenuity seems to me without a parallel

ST. MARt MAGDALENE. ^g

The preacher, while acknowledging the excesses which hrouo-ht
her a penitent to the feet of Christ, is perfectly scandalised that she
should be put on a par with common sinners of the same class, and
that on the faith of a passage in St. Luke, ' on a ose fletrir une des
plus belles ames qui soient jamais sorties des mains du Createur!*
He rather glorifies her as a kind of Aspasia, to whom, indeed, he in
a manner compares her.-^

^ * Pour vous ramener h des id^es plus favorables h la Madeleine, vous transportant au
temps et aux circonstances oh \6cut cette cdlebre Israelite, je pourrais vous dire.
Messieurs, que I'antiquite, ne jugeant pas Equitable d'exiger plus de vertu du sexe repute
pour le plus faible, ne croyait pas les femmes d^shonor^es de ce qui ne d^shonorait pas les
hommes h, ses yeux ; qu'elle a d'ailleurs toujours ^t^ bien moins s^v^re h, des sentiments
qui, naissant avec nous, lui paraissaient une partie de nous-mdmes, et qu'elle n'attacha
jamais aucune id^e fletrissante aux suites d'une passion qu'elle trouvait presque aussi
pardonnable que naturelle. Les graces de la beautd etaient alors regard^es comme les
autres talents ; et I'art de plaire, aussi autorise que les autres arts, loin d'inspirer de I'^loigne-
ment,' &c.

After describing, in glowing terms, her splendid position in tbe world, her illustrious
rank, her understanding, 'droit, solide, et delicat,' her * grdce,^ her * esprit,' her wondrous
beauty, particularly her superb hair, * cultiv4 avec tant de soin, arrangi avec tant d^art;' —
and lamenting that a creature thus nobly gifted should have been cast away upon the same
rock which had shipwrecked the greatest, the most illustrious, of her compatriotes, le fort
Samson, le preux David, le sage Salomon ; ' he goes on to describe, with real eloquence, and
in a less offensive strain of panegyric, her devotion at the foot of the cross, her pious visit
to the tomb by break of day, braving the fury of the guards, the cruelty of the Jews, and
taking the place of the apostles, who were dispersed or fled. And thus he winds up with
a moral, most extraordinary when we recollect that it was preached from a pulpit by a
grave doctor in theology : —

• Jeunes personnes qui vivez encore dans Pinnocence ! apprenez done de la Madeleine
combien grands sont les perils de la jeunesse, de la beauts, de tons les dons purement
nature! s ; souvenez-vous que le d^sir excessif de plaire est toujours daugereux, rarement
innocent, et qu'il est bien difl&cile de donner beaucoup de sentiments, sans en prendre soi-
meme. A la vue des faiblesses de la jeune Israelite, comprenez de quelle importance est,
pour vous, la garde de votre coeur ; et h, quels disorders il vous expose, si vous ne vous
accoutumez h. le contrarier sans cesse, en tous ses penchants.

* Femmes mondaines, et peut-§tre voluptueuses ! apprenez de la Madeleine ^ revfenir de
vos hearts ; ils ont 6t6, dans vous, le fruit de la faiblesse humaine ; que votre retour soit
le fruit de votre correspondance h, la grdce. Et pourriez-vous ou vous proposer un module
plus digne d'etre suivi que celui que vous presente Madeleine, ou trouver ailleurs un
motif plus puissant de le suivre ?

Et vous qui, fibres d'une reserve que vous ne devez peut-etre qu'b. votre insensibility,
voua en faites un rempart, b. I'abri duquel vous croyez pouvoir mepriser toute la terre, et
dont la mondanit^ de Madeleine elle-meme a peut-6tre scandalisd la pr^cieuse vertu!
femmes plus vaines que sages ! apprenez de notre Sainte, qu'il n'y a que la grdce de Dieu

850 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

The traditional scene of the penance of the Magdalene, a wild
spot between Toulon and Marseilles, is the site of a famous convent
called La Sainte Beaume (which in the Provencal tongue signifies
Holy Cave), formerly a much frequented place of pilgrimage. It is
built on the verge of a formidable precipice ; near it is the grotto in
which the saint resided ; and to Mount Pilon, a rocky point about
six hundred feet above the grotto, the angels bore her seven times a
day to pray. This convent was destroyed and pillaged at the com-
mencement of the French Revolution. It was filled with relics and
works of art, referring to the life and the worship of the Magdalene.

But the most sumptuous fane ever erected to her special honour is
that which, of late years, has arisen in the city of Paris. The
church, or rather the temple, of La Madeleine stands an excelling
monument, if not of modern piety, at least of modern Art. It is
built on the model of the temple of Jupiter at Athens : —

That noble type is realised again

In perfect form ; and dedicate — to whom ?

To a poor Syrian girl of lowliest name —

A hapless creature, pitiful and frail,

As ever wore her life in sin and shame !

E. M. MiLNES.

The saint, whether she were ^ the lowly Syrian girl,* or the * Prin-
cess of Magdala,' would be equally astonished to behold herself thus
honoured with a sort of pagan magnificence in the midst of a luxu-
rious capital, and by a people more remarkable for scofl&ng than for
praying. Even in the successive vicissitudes of this splendid edifice
there is something strange. That which is now the temple of the
lowly penitent, was a few years ago Le Temple de la Gloire.

Let us now turn to those characteristic representations with which
painting and sculpture have made us familiar, and for which both

et une attention continuelle sur nou8-m4mes qui puissent nous aider constamment centre
la pente qui nous pr^cipite vers le mal, et craignez qu'on ne puisse vous dire, k son sujet,
ce que Saint Augustin disait b. une devote de votre caract^re, pleine d'elle-mSme et md-
disante : " Pliit k Dieu que vous eussiez donn^ dans les mdmes exc^s dont vous croyez si
volontiers les autres capables ! vous seriez moins ^loignde du royaume de Dieu ; du moins
vous auriez de I'humanit^ ! " '

Le Brun's Magdalene is just the Magdalene described by this preacher : both one and
the other are as like the Magdalene of Scripture as Leo X. was like St. Peter.

ST. MARY MAGDALENE. ojj

Scripture and legendary tradition have furnished the authority and
the groundwork. These are so numerous and so infinitely varied,
that I find it necessary here, as in the case of St. Jerome, to arrange
them under several heads.

The devotional representations may be divided into two classes.
1. Those which represent the Magdalene as patron saint. 2. Those
which represent her penitence in the desert.

The historical subjects may also be divided into two classes. 1.
Those scenes from Gospel story in which Mary Magdalene figures
as a chief or conspicuous personage. 2. The scenes taken from
her legendary life.

In all these subjects the accompanying attribute is the alabaster
box of ointment, which has a double significance : it may be the per-
fume which she poured over the feet of the Saviour, or the balm and
spices which she had prepared to anoint his body. Sometimes she
carries it in her hand, sometimes it stands at her feet, or near her ;
frequentl}^, in later pictures, it is borne by an attendant angel.
The shape varies with the fancy of the artist ; it is a small vase, a
casket, a box, a cup with a cover ; more or less ornamented, more
or less graceful in form ; but always there — the symbol at once of
her conversion and her love, and so peculiar that it can leave no
doubt of her identity.

Her drapery in the ancient pictures is usually red, to express the
fervour of her loVe ; in modern representations, and where she
figures as penitent, it is either blue or violet ; violet, the colour of
mourning and penitence — blue, the colour of constancy. To ex-
press both the love and the sorrow, she sometimes wears a violet-
coloured tunic and a red mantle. The luxuriant hair ought to be
fair or golden. Dark -haired Magdalenes, as far as I can remember,
belong exclusively to the Spanish school.

1. When exhibited to us as the patron saint of repentant sinners,
Mary Magdalene is sometimes a thin wasted figure, with loDg
dishevelled hair of a pale golden hue, falling over her shoulders
almost to the ground ; sometimes a skin or a piece of linen is tied
round her loins, but not seldom her sole drapery is her long redun-
dant hair. The most ancient single figure of this character to which
I can refer is an old picture in the Byzantine manner, as old perhaps

352

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

as the thirteenth century, and now in the Academy at Florence.
She is standing as patroness, covered only by her long hair, which
falls in dark brown masses to her feet ; the colour, I imagine, was
originally much lighter. She is a meagre, haggard, grim-looking
figure, and holds in her hand a scroll, on which is inscribed in
ancient Gothic letters —

i^e ti£0|j£ct£tcs

Fos qui peccarc soUtis

(!Bxcmpl0 mm

Uo3 reparate IBeo.^

Hude and unattractive as is this specimen of ancient Art, I could
not look at it without thinking how
often it must have spoken hope and
peace to the soul of the trembling
sinner, in days when it hung, not in
a picture-gallery to be criticised, but in
a shrine to be worshipped. Around this
figure, in the manner of the old altar-
pieces, are six small square compart-
ments containing scenes fromher life.

The famous statue carved in wood by
Donatello, in point of character, may be
referred to this class of subjects : she
stands over her altar in the Baptistery
at Florence, with clasped hands, the
head raised in prayer ; the form is very
expressive of wasting grief and penance,
but too meagre for beauty, ^ E^li la
voile specchio alle penitently non incita-
mento alia cupidizia degli sguardi, come
avenne adaltri artisti^ says Cicognara;
and, allowing that beauty has been
sacrificed to expression, he adds, ^but if
Donatello had done all, what would have

Mary Magdalene (Donatello).

The original Latin distich runs thus : —

Ne desperetis vos qui peccare soletis,
Exemploque meo vos reparate Deo.

ST. MARY MAGDALENE.

remained for Cauova ? ' That which remained for Canova to do, he
has done ; he has made her as lovely as possible, and he has dra-
matised the sentiment : she is more the penitent than the patron
saint. The display of the beautiful limbs is chastened by the
humility of the attitude — half kneeling, half prostrate ; by the ex-
pression of the drooping head — ' all sorrow's softness charmed from
its despair.' Her eyes are fixed on the cross which lies extended on
her knees ; and she weeps — not so much her own past sins, as the
sacrifice it has cost to redeem them. This is the prevailing senti-
ment, or, as the Germans would call it, the motive of the represent-
ation, to which I should feel inclined to object as deficient in dignity
and severity, and bordering too much on the ^enre and dramatic
style: but the execution is almost faultless. Very beautiful is
another modern statue of the penitent Magdalene, executed in marble
for the Count d'Espagnac, by M. Henri de Triqueti. She is half
seated, half reclining on a fragment of rock, and pressing to her
bosom a crown of thorns, at once the mourner and the penitent :
the sorrow is not for herself alone.

But, in her character of patron saint, Mary Magdalene was not
always represented with the squalid or pathetic attributes of humilia-
tion and penance. She became idealised as a noble dignified creature
bearing no traces of sin or of sorrow on her beautiful face; her
luxuriant hair bound in tresses round her head ; her drapery rich
and ample ; the vase of ointment in her hand or at her feet, or borne
by an angel near her. Not unfrequently she is attired with the
utmost magnificence, either in reference to her former state of
worldly prosperity, or rather, perhaps, that with the older painters,
particularly those of the German school, it was a common custom to
clothe all the ideal figures of female saints in rich habits. In the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries such representations of the Mag-
dalene are usual both in Italian and German Art. A beautiful
instance may be seen in a picture by Signorelli, in the Cathedral of
Or vie to, where she is standing in a landscape, her head uncovered,
and the rich golden hair partly braided, partly flowing over her
shoulders ; she wears a magnificent tunic embroidered with gold,
over it a fiowing mantle descending to her feet ; she holds the vase
with her left hand, and points to it with her right. If it were not

VOL. I. Y Y

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

for the saintly aureole encircling her head, this figure, and others
similar to it, might be mistaken for Pandora. See, for example, the

92" JIary Magdalene (Lucas v. Leyden)

famous print by Lucas v. Leyden, where she stands on clouds with
an embroidered coif and flowing mantle, holding the vase in her left
hand, and lifting the cover with her right (in the sketch it is re-
versed) : and in the half-length by Leonardo, or one of his school.

ST. MA.RY MAGDALENE. 355

The want of a religious sentiment gives such figures a very heathen
and Pandora look, so that the aureole alone fixes the identity.
This is not the case with a noble Magdalene by Dennis Calvert, in
the Manfrini Palace at Venice. She is standing in a fine bold
landscape ; one hand sustains her ample crimson drapery, the other
holds her vase ; her fair hair falls in masses over her shoulders, and
she looks down on her worshippers with a serious dignified compas-
sion. This is one of the finest pictures of the later Bologna school,
finer and truer in sentiment than any of the Caracci and Guido
Magdalenes.

In this her wholly divine and ideal character of saint and inter-
cessor, Mary Magdalene is often most beautifully introduced as stand-
ing near the throne of the Virgin, or as grouped with other saints.
In two of the most famous pictures in the world she is thus represented.
In the St. Cecilia of Eaphael, she stands on the left, St. Paul being
on the right of the principal figure ; they are here significant of the
conversion of the man through power ^ of the woman through love^
from a state of reprobation to a state of reconcilement and grace.
St. Paul leans in deep meditation on his sword. Mary Magdalene
is habited in ample drapery of blue and violet, which she sustains
with one hand, and bears the vase in the other. She looks out of
the picture with a benign countenance and a particularly graceful
turn of the head. Raphael's origin al design for this picture (engraved
by Marc Antonio) is, however, preferable in the sentiment given to
the Magdalene : she does not look out of the picture, but she looks
%tp : she also hears the divine music which has ravished St. Cecilia.
In the picture she is either unconscious or inattentive.

In the not less celebrated St. Jerome of Correggio she is on the
left of the Madonna, bending down with an expression of the deepest
adoration to kiss the feet of the infant Christ, while an angel behind
holds up the vase of ointment: thus recalling to our minds, and
shadowing forth in the most poetical manner, that memorable act of
love and homage rendered at the feet of the Saviour. Parmigiano
has represented her, in a Madonna picture, as standing on one side,
and the prophet Isaiah on the other. Lord Ashburton has a fine
picture by Correggio, in which we have the same ideal represent-
ation : she is here grouped with St. Peter, St. Margaret, and St.
Leonardo.

856 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

There are two classes of subjects in which Mary Magdalene is richly
habited, and which must be carefully distinguished ; those above
described, in which she figures as patron saint, and those which re-
present her before her conversion, as the votary of luxury and pleasure.
In the same manner we must be careful to distinguish those figures
of the penitent Magdalene which are wholly devotional in character
and intention, and which have been described in the first class, from
those which represent her in the act of doing penance, and which
are rather dramatic and sentimental than devotional.

2. The penance of the Magdalene is a subject which has become,
like the penance of St. Jerome, a symbol of Christian penitence, but
still more endeared to the popular imagination by more affecting and
attractive associations, and even more eminently picturesque, — so
tempting to the artists, that by their own predilection for it they
have assisted in making it universal. In the display of luxuriant
female forms, shadowed (not hidden) by redundant fair hair, and
flung in all the abandon of solitude, amid the depth of leafy recesses,
or relieved by the dark umbrageous rocks ; in the association of love
and beauty with the symbols of death and sorrow and utter humilia-
tion ; the painters had ample scope, ample material, for the exercise
of their imagination, and the displaj^ of their skill: and what has
been the result ? They have abused these capabilities even to licence ;
they have exhausted the resources of Art in the attempt to vary the
delineation; and yet how seldom has the ideal of this most exquisite
subject been — I will not say realised — but even approached ? We
have Magdalenes who look as if they never could have sinned, and
others who look as if they never could have repented; we have
Venetian Magdalenes with the air of courtesans, and Florentine
Magdalenes with the air of Ariadnes ; and Bolognese Magdalenes
like sentimental Niobes ; and French Magdalenes, moitie galantes^
moitU devotes ; and Dutch Magdalenes, who wring their hands like
repentant washerwomen. The Magdalenes of Rubens remind us of
nothing so much as of the ^ unfortunate Miss Bailey ; ' and the
Magdalenes of Van Dyck are fine ladies who have turned Methodists.
But Mary Magdalene, such as we have conceived her, mournful yet
hopeful, — tender yet dignified, — worn with grief and fasting, yet

ST. MARY MAGDALENE. 357

radiant with the glow of love and faith, and clothed with the beauty
of holiness, — is an ideal which painting has not yet realised. Is it
beyond the reach of Art ? We might have answered this question,
had Eaphael attempted it ; — but he has not. His Magdalene at the
feet of Christ is yet unforgiven — the forlorn castaway, not the devout
penitent.

The Magdalene doing penance in her rocky desert first became a
popular subject in the sixteenth century ; in the seventeenth it was
at the height of favour. There are two distinct versions of the
subject, infinitely varied as to detail and sentiment: either she is
represented as bewailing her sins, or as reconciled to Heaven.

In the former treatment she lies prostrate on the earth, or she is
standing or kneeling at the entrance of the cave (in some of the old
illuminated missals the upper part of her body is seen emerging
from a cave or rather a hole in the ground,) the hands clasped, or
extended towards heaven ; the eyes streaming with tears ; the long
yellow hair floating over her shoulders. The crucifix, the skull, and
sometimes the scourge, are introduced as emblems of faith, mortality,
and penance ; weeping angels present a crown of thorns.

In the latter treatment she is reading or meditating ; the expres-
sion is serene or hopeful ; a book lies beside the skull ; angels pre-
sent the palm, or scatter flowers ; a vision of glory is seen in the skies.

The alabaster box is in all cases the indispensable attribute. The
eyes are usually raised, if not in grief, in supplication or in aspira-
tion. The ' uplifted eye ' as well as the ' loose hair ' became a char-
acteristic ; but there are some exceptions. The conception of
character and situation, which was at first simple, became more and
more picturesque, and at length theatrical — a mere vehicle for senti-
ment and attitude.

1 . The earliest example I can remember of the Penitent Magdalene,
dramatically treated, remains as yet unsurpassed ; — the reading Mag-
dalene of Correggio, in the Dresden Gallery. This lovely creation
has only one fault — the virginal beauty is that of a Psyche or a
Seraph. In Oelenschlager's drama of ^ Correggio,' there is a
beautiful description of this far-famed picture ; he calls it ' Die
Gottinn des Waldes Frommigkeit,' — the goddess of the religious
solitude. And in truth, if we could imagine Diana reading instead

858 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

of hunting, she might have looked thus. Oelenschlager has made
poetical use of the tradition that Correggio painted this Magdalene
for a poor monk who was his confessor or physician ; and thus he
makes Silvestro comment on the work : —

What a fair picture ! —
This dark o'erhanging shade, the long fair hair.
The delicate white skin, the azure robe,
The full luxuriant life, the grim death's head,
The tender womanhood, and the great book : —
These various contrasts have you cunningly
Brought into sweetest harmony.

But truer, at least nobler in sentiment, is the Magdalene by the
same painter (in the Manfrini Palace, Yenice,) of the same size and
similarly draped in dark blue ; but here standing at the entrance of
her cave. She leans her elbow on the book which lies on the rock,
and appears to be meditating on its contents. The head, seen in
front, is grand and earnest, with a mass of fair hair, a large wide
brow, and deep, deep eyes full of mystery. The expression of power
in this head pleases me especially, because true to the character, as
I conceive it.

Doch ist es schon von einem Weibe, mein' ich,

Einmal gefallen wieder sich zu heben ;

Es gibt sehr wen'ge Manner, die das konnen !

Yes ! it is good to see a hapless woman,
That once has fallen, redeem herself! In truth,
There be few men, methinks, could do as much.

Correggio, Act i. Scene 1.

I do not' know why this lovely Manfrini picture should be so
much less celebrated than the Dresden Magdalene : while the latter
has been multiplied by copies and engravings, I do not remember a
single print after the Manfrini Magdalene. There is a bad feeble
copy in the Louvre ; ^ I know no other.

2. There is a celebrated picture by Timoteo della Vite, in the
Bologna Gallery. She is standing before the entrance of her cavern,
arrayed in a crimson mantle ; her long hair is seen beneath descend-
ing to her feet; the hands joined in prayer, the head declined on

^ It was in the Standish Gallery belonging to Louis-Philippe, and now dispersed.

ST. MART MAGDALENE.

859

93 Mary Magdalene (Timoteo della Vite)

one side, and the whole expression that of girlish innocence and
simplicity, with a touch of the pathetic. A mendicant, not a Mag-
dalene, is the idea suggested ; and, for mj^self, I confess that at the
first glance I was reminded of the little Red- Riding-Hood, and could
think of no sin that could have been attributed to such a face and
figure, bej^ond the breaking of a pot of butter : yet the picture is
very beautiful.

3. The Magdalene of Titian was so celebrated in his own time,
that he painted at least ^ve or six repetitions, of it, and copies and

860 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

engravings have since been multiplied. The eyes, swimming, in
tears, are raised to heaven ; the long dishevelled hair floats over her
shoulders ; one hand is pressed on her bosom, the other rests on the
skull; the forms are full and round, the colouring rich; a book and
a box of ointment lie before her on a fragment of rock. She is suffi-
ciently woeful, but seems rather to regret her past life than to repent
of it, nor is there anything in the expression which can secure us
against a relapse. Titian painted the original for Charles V. His
idea of the pose was borrowed, as we are told, from an antique
statue, and his model was a young girl, who being fatigued with
long standing, the tears ran down her face, *and Titian attained
the desired expression. '(!) His idea therefore of St. Mary Mag-
dalene was the fusion of an antique statue and a girl taken out of
the streets ; and with all its beauties as a work of Art — and very
beautiful it is — this chef-d'oeuvre of Titian is, to my taste, most
unsatisfactory.

4. Cigoli's Magdalene is seated on a rock, veiled only by her long
hair, which falls over the whole figure ; the eyes, still wet with tears,
are raised to heaven ; one arm is round a skull, the right hand rests
on a book which is on her knees.

5. The Magdalene of Carlo Cignani, veiled in her dishevelled hair,
and wringing her hands, is also most affecting for the fervent ex-
pression of sorrow ; both these are in the Florence Gallery.-^

6. Guido, regarded as the painter of Magdalenes/>ar excellence^ has
carried this mistake yet farther ; he had ever the classical Niobe in
his mind, and his saintly penitents, with all their exceeding loveli-
ness, appear to me utterly devoid of that beauty which has been
called ' the beauty of holiness ; ' the reproachful grandeur of the
Kiobe is diluted into voluptuous feebleness ; the tearful face, with
the loose golden hair and uplifted eyes, of which he has given us at
least ten repetitions, however charming as Art — as painting, are
unsatisfactory as religious representations. I cannot except even
the beautiful study in our National Gallery, nor the admired full-

^ There is a beautiful half-length female figure, attributed to Correggio, and engraved
under the title of * Gismunda * weeping over the heart of her lover, in the collection of
the Duke of Newcastle. The duplicate in the Belvedere Gallery at Vienna is there styled
a Magdalene, and attributed correctly to Francesco Furini.

ST. MARY MAGDALENE. 351

length in the Sciarra Palace, at Eome -, the latter, when I saw it
last, appeared to me poor and mannered, and the pale colouring not
merely delicate, but vapid. A head of Mary Magdalene reading,

^* Mary Magdalene (Murillo).

apparently a study from life, is, however in a grand style. ^

7. Murillo' s Magdalene, in the Louvre, kneeling, with hands crossed
on her bosom, eyes upraised, and parted lips, has eager devout hope as
well as sorrow in the countenance. 8. But turn to the Magdalene of
Alonzo Cano, which hangs near : drooping, negligent of self; the very
hands are nerveless, languid, dead.^ Nothing but woe, guilt, and
misery are in the face and attitude , ske has not yet looked into the face
of Christ, nor sat at his feet, nor heard from his lips, * Woman, thy

^ Lichtenstein Gal.

^ These two pictures were sold out of the Louvre with King Louis-Philippe's pictures.
VOL. I, 2 Z

362

SACRED AND LEGENDlART ART.

sins be forgiven thee/ nor dared to hope ; it is the penitent only; the
whole head is faint, and the whole heart sick. 9. But the beautiful
Magdalene of Annibal Caracci has heard the words of mercy , 8hG has

95

Mary Magdalene (Annibal Caracci).

memories which are not of sin only ; angelic visions have already come
to her in that wild solitude ; she is seated at the foot of a tree ; she
leans her cheek on her left hand, the other rests on a skull ,• she is in
deep contemplation ; but her thoughts are not of death : the upward
ardent look is full of hope, and faith, and love. The fault of this beau-
tiful little picture lies in the sacrifice of the truth of the situation to the
artistic feeling of beauty — the common fault of the school i the forms
are large, round, full, untouched by grief and penance.

10. Yandyck's Magdalenes have the same fault as his Madonjias ;
they are not feeble nor voluptuous, but they are too elegant and lady-
like. I remember, for example, a Deposition by Vandyck, and one of

ST. MARY MAGDALENE.

his finest pictures, in which Mary Magdalene kisses the hand of the
Saviour quite with the air of a princess. The most beautiful of his
penitent Magdalenes is the half-length figure with the face in profile,
bending with clasped hands over the crucifix ; the skull and knotted
scourge lie on a shelf of rock behind ; underneath is the inscription,
^ Fallit gratia^ et vana est pulckritudo ; mulier timens Dominum ipsa
laudahiturJ' (Prov. xxxi. 30.) 11. Rubens has given us thirteen
Magdalenes, more or less coarse ; in one picture ^ she is tearing her
hair like a disappointed virago ; in another, the expression of grief is
overpowering, but it is that of a woman in the house of correction.
From this sweeping condemnation I must make one exception ; it is
the picture known as ^ The Four Penitents.'" In front the Magdalene
bows down her head on her clasped hands with such an expression of
profound humilitj^ as Rubens only, when painting out of nature and
his own heart, could give. Christ, with an air of tender yet sublime
compassion, looks down upon her : — ' Thy sins be forgiven thee ! '
Behind Christ and the Magdalene stand Peter, David, and Didj^mus,
the penitent thief; the faces of these three, thrown into shadow to
relieve the two principal figures, have a self-abased, mournful expres-
sion. I have never seen anything from the hand of Rubens at once
60 pure and pathetic in sentiment as this picture, while the force and
truth of the painting are, as usual, wonderful. No one should judge
Rubens who has not studied him in the Munich Gallery.

The Historical Subjects from the life of Mary Magdalene are
either scriptural or legendary ; and the character of the Magdalene, as
conceived by the greatest painters, is more distinctly expressed in
those scriptural scenes in which she is an important figure, than in
the single and ideal representations. The illuminated Gospels of
the ninth century furnish the oldest type of Mary, the penitent
and the sister of Lazarus, but it differs from the modern conception
of the Magdalene. She is in such subjects a secondary scriptural
personage, one of the accessories in the history of Christ, and no-
thing more ; no attempt was made to give her importance, either by

1 Turin Gallery.

' Munich Gallery, No. 266. There is an inferior repetition in the Royal Gallery at Turin.

364 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

beauty or dignity, or prominence of place, till the end of the thir-
teenth century.

The sacred subjects in which she is introduced are the following : —

1. Jesus at supper with Simon the Pharisee. — * And she began
to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hair of her
head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment.' (Luke
vii. 30.)

2. Christ is in the house of Martha and Mary. — ^ And she sat at
Jesus' feet, and heard his words; but Martha was cumbered with
much serving.' (Luke x. 39, 40.)

3. The raising of Lazarus.—-* Lord, if thou hadst been here, my
brother had not died.' (John xi, 32.)

4. The Crucifixion. — ' Now there stood by the cross Mary Magda-
lene.' (John xix. 25 ; Matt, xxvii. ^Q.)

5. The Deposition from the Cross. — * And Mary Magdalene, and the
mother of Jesus, beheld where he was laid.' (Mark xv. 47.)

6. The Maries at the Sepulchre. — ' And there was Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.' (Matt, xxvii.
61.)

7. Christ appears to Mary Magdalene in the Garden, called the
Noli me tangere. — ' Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my
Father.' ( John xx. 17.)

In the first, second, and last of these subjects, the Magdalene is
one of the two principal figures, and necessary to the action ; in the
others she is generally introduced, but in some instances omitted ; and
as all belong properly to the life of Christ, I shall confine myself
now to a few remarks on the characteristic treatment of the Magdalene
in each.

1. The supper with Simon has been represented in every variety
of style. The earliest and simplest I can call to mind is the fresco
of Taddeo Gaddi in the Rinuccini Chapel at Florence. The Magda-
lene bends down prostrate on the feet of the Saviour ; she is in a red
dress, and her long yellow hair flows down her back ; the seven devils
by which she was possessed are seen above, flying out of the roof of the
house in the shape of little black monsters. Raphael, when treating
the same subject, thought only of the religious significance of the action,
and how to express it with the utmost force and the utmost simplicity*

ST. MARY MAGDALENE.

There are few figures — our Saviour, the Pharisee, four apostles, and
two attendants : Mary Magdalene in front bends over the feet of
Christ while her long hair half conceals her face and almost sweeps
the ground ; nothing can exceed the tenderness and humility of the
attitude and the benign dignity of Christ. As an example of the most
opposite treatment let us turn to the gorgeous composition of Paul
Veronese; we have a stately banquet-room, rich architecture, a
crowd of about thirty figures ; and the Magdalene is merely a beauti-
ful female with loose robes, dishevelled tresses, and the bosom dis-
played ; this gross fault of sentiment is more conspicuous in the large
picture in the Durazzo Palace at Genoa than in the beautiful finished
sketch in the collection of Mr. Rogers.^ A fine sketch by the same
painter, but quite different, is at Alton Towers. The composition
of Rubens, of which a very fine sketch is in the Windsor collection,
is exceedingly dramatic ; the dignity of Christ and the veneration
and humility of the Magdalene are admirably expressed ; but the
disdainful surprise of some of the assistants, and the open mockery
of others — the old man in spectacles peering over to convince him-
self of the truth — disturb the solemnity of the feeling : and this
fault is even more apparent in the composition of Philippe de Cham-
pagne, where a young man puts up his finger with no equivocal
expression. In these two examples the moment chosen is not ' Thy
sins are forgiven thee^ but the scepticism of the Pharisee becomes
the leading idea ; ^ This man^ if he were a prophet, would have known
who and what manner of woman this is,^

2. Christ in the house of Martha and Mary. Of this beautiful
subject I have never seen a satisfactory version ; in the fresco by
Taddeo Gaddi in the Einuccini Chapel the subject becomes legendary
rather than scriptural. Mary Magdalene is seated at the feet of
Christ in an attitude of attention ; Martha seems to expostulate ;
three of the disciples are behind ; a little out of the principal group,
St. Marcella, also with a glory round her head, is seen cooking. At
Hampton Court there is a curious picture of this subject by Hans
Vries, which is an elaborate study of architecture : the rich decora-

^ The great picture formerly in the Durazzo Palace is now in the Royal Gallery at Turin.
It is wonderful for life and colour, and dramatic feeling — a masterpiece of the painter in
his characteristic style

360 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

tion of the interior has been criticised ; but, according to the legend,
Martha and Mary lived in great splendour ; and there is no impro-
priety in representing their dwelling as a palace, but a very great
impropriety in rendering the decorations of the palace more import-
ant than the personages of the scene. In a picture by Old Bassano,
Christ is seen entering the house ; Mary Magdalene goes forward to
meet him ; Martha points to the table where Lazarus sits composedly
cutting a slice of sausage, and in the corner St. Marcella is cooking
at a fire. In a picture by Eubens, the treatment is similar. The
holy sisters are like two Flemish farm servants, and Christ — ^but I
dare not proceed: — in both these instances, the colouring, the
expression, the painting of the accessories — the vegetables and fruit,
the materials and implements for cooking a feast — are as animated
and true to nature as the conception of the whole scene is trivial,
vulgar, and, to a just taste, intolerably profane.

One of the most modern compositions of this scene which has
attracted attention is that of Overbeck, very simple and poetical, but
deficient in individual expression.

3. The raising of Lazarus w^as selected by the early Christians as
an emblem both of the general resurrection and the resurrection of
our Saviour, at a time that the resurrection of the Saviour in person
was considered a subject much too solemn and mysterious to be
dealt with by the imitative arts. In its primitive signification, as
the received emblem of the resurrection of the dead, we find this
subject abounding in the catacombs, and on the sarcophagi of the
third and fourth centuries. The usual manner of representation shows
the dead man swathed like a mummy, under the porch of a temple
resembling a tomb, to which there is an ascent by a flight of steps.
Christ stands before him, and touches him with a wand. Sometimes
there are two figures only, but in general Mary Magdalene is kneel-
ing b3\ There is one instance only in which Christ stands sur-
rounded by the apostles, and the two sisters are kneeling at his feet :
— ^ Lord, hadst thou been here, my brother had not died.'^

In more modern Art this subject loses its mystic signification.
and becomes simply a scriptural incident. It is treated like a scene
in a drama, and the painters have done their utmost to vary the

^ Bottari, Ttib. xxx.

ST. MARY MAGDALENE. 867

treatment. But, however varied as regards the style of conception
and the number of personages, Martha and Mary are always present,
and, in general, Mary is at the feet of our Saviour. The incident is
of course one of the most important in the life of Christ, and is
never omitted in the series, nor yet in the miracles of our Saviour.
But, from the beginning of the fourteenth century, it forms one of
the scenes of the story of Mary Magdalene. The fresco of Giovanni
da Milano at Assisi contains thirteen figures, and the two sisters
kneeling at the feet of Christ have a grand and solemn simplicity ;
but Mary is not here in any respect distinguished from Martha, and
both are attired in red.

In the picture in our National Gallery, the kneeling figure of
Mary looking up in the face of Jesus, with her grand severe beauty
and earnest expression, is magnificent : but here, again, Mary of
Bethan}^ is not Mary Magdalene, nor the woman ' who was a sinner ; '
and I doubt whether Michael Angelo intended to represent her as
such. On the other hand, the Caracci, Rubens and the later pain-
ters are careful to point out the supposed identity, by the long fan-
hair, exposed and dishevelled, the superior beauty and the su-
perior prominence and importance of the figure, while Martha stands
by, veiled, and as a secondary personage.

4. In the crucifixion, where more than the three figures (the Re-
deemer, the Virgin, and St. John) are introduced, the Magdalene is
almost always at the foot of the cross, and it is said that Giotto gave
the first example. Sometimes she is embracing the cross, and looking
up with all the abandonment of despairing grief, which is more pictu-
resque than true in sentiment ; finer in feeling is the expression of
serene hope tempering the grief. In Rubens' famous ' Crucifixion' at
Antwerp, she has her arms round the cross, and is gazing at the execu-
tioner with a look of horror : this is very dramatic and striking, but
the attention of the penitent ought to be fixed on the dying Saviour, to
the exclusion of every other thought or object. In Vandyck's ' Cruci-
fixion,' the face of the Magdalene seen in front is exquisite for its
pathetic beauty. Sometimes the Virgin is fainting in her arms. The
box of ointment is frequently placed near, to distinguish her from
the other Maries present.

808 BACKED AND LEGENDARY ART.

5. In the Descent or Deposition from the Cross, and in the Ed-
tombment, Mary Magdalene is generally conspicuous. She is often
supporting the feet or one of the hands of the Saviour ; or she stands
by weeping ; or she sustains the Virgin ; or (which is very usual in
the earlier pictures) she is seen lamenting aloud, with her long
tresses disordered, and her arms outspread in an ecstasy of grief and
passion ; or she bends down to embrace the feet of the Saviour, or to
kiss his hand ; or contemplates with a mournful look one of the nails,
or the crown of thorns, which she holds in her hand.

In the Pieta of Fra Bartolomeo, in the Pitti Palace, the prostrate
abandonment in the figure of the Magdalene, pressing the feet of
Christ to her bosom, is full of pathetic expression ; in the same gallery
is the Pieta by Andrea del Sarto, where the Magdalene, kneeling,
wrings her hands in mute sorrow. But in this, as in other instances,
Eaphael has shown himself supreme ; there is a wonderful little
drawing by him, in which Nicodemus and others sustain the body of
the Saviour, while Mary Magdalene lies prostrate bending her head
over his feet, which she embraces ; the face is wholly concealed by
the flowing hair, but never was the expression of overwhelming love
and sorrow conveyed with such artless truth.

6. The Maries at the Sepulchre. The women who carry the spices
and perfumes to the tomb of Jesus are called, in Greek Art, the
Myrrhophores, or myrrh-bearers : with us there are usually three —
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and John, and Mary
Salome. In Matthew, two women are mentioned ; in Mark, three ;
in Luke, the number is indefinite ; and in John, only one is men-
tioned, Mary Magdalene. There is scarcely a more beautiful subject
in the whole circle of scripture story than this of the three desolate
affectionate women standing before the tomb in the grey dawn, while
the majestic angels are seen guarding the hallowed spot. I give, as
one of the earliest examples, a sketch from the composition of Duccio;
the rules of perspective were then unknown — but what a beautiful
simplicity in the group of women I how fine the seated angel I — ' The
angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back
the stone from the door and sat upon it.' I have seen one instance,
and only one, in which the angel is in the act of descending ; in
general, the version according to St. John is followed, and the ' two

ST. MART MAGDALENE.

meu in shiniug garments ' are seated within the tomb. There is a
famous engraving, after a design by Michael Angelo, called 'The
Three Maries going to the Sepulchre ; ' it represents three old women
veiled, and with their backs turned — very awful; but they might as
well be called the three Fates, or the three Witches, as the three Maries.
The subject has never been more happily treated than by Philip Veit,
a modern German artist, in a print which has become popular ; he
has followed the version of Matthew : * As it began to dawn, came
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.' The
attitude of motionless sorrow; the anxious expectant looks, fixed on
the tomb ; the deep shadowy stillness ; the morning light just
breaking in the distance, are very truly and feelingly expressed.

7. The ' Noli me tangere ' is the subject of many pictures ; they do
not vary in the simplicity of the motifs which is fixed by tradition,
and admits but of two persons. The composition of Duccio, as one of
the series of the Passion of Christ, is extremely grand; and the
figure of Mary, leaning forward as she kneels, with outstretched
hands full of expression. The old fresco of Taddeo Gaddi, in the
Rinuccini Chapel,^ is also exquisite. Two of the finest in conception
and treatment are, notwithstanding, in striking contrast to each other.
One is the Titian in the collection of Mr Rogers -? the Magdalene,
kneeling, bends forward with eager expression, and one hand ex-
tended to touch him : the Saviour, drawing his linen garment round
him, shrinks back from her touch — yet with the softest expression of
pity. Besides the beauty and truth of the expression, this picture is
transcendent as a piece of colour and effect; while the rich landscape
and the approach of morning over the blue distance are conceived
with a sublime simplicity. Not less a miracle of Art, not less poet-
ical, but in a far different style, is the Rembrandt in the Queen's
Gallery : at the entrance of the sepulchre the Saviour is seen in the
habiliments of a gardener, and Mary Magdalene at his feet, adoring.
This picture exhibits, in a striking degree, all the wild originality
and peculiar feeling of Rembrandt : the forms and characters are
common ; but the deep shadow of the cavern tomb, the dimly-seen

^ Santa Croce, Florence.

'^ This beautiful aud valuable picture has been bequeathed by the poet to the National
Gallery.

VOL. I. 3 A

3T0 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

supernatural beings within it, the breaking of the dawn over the
distant city, are awfully sublime, and worthy of the mysterious scene.
Barroccio's great altar-piece, which came to England with the Duke
of Lucca's pictures, once so famous, and well known from the fine
engraving of Raphael Morghen, is poor compared with any of these :
Christ is efieminate and commonplace — Mary Magdalene all in a
flutter.

1 now leave these scriptural incidents, to be more fully considered
hereafter, and proceed to the fourth class of subjects pertaining to
the life of the Magdalene — those which are taken from tbe wild Pro-
venpal legends of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

1. ' La Danse de la Madeleine' is the title given to a very rare and
beautiful print by Lucas v. Leyden. It represent Mary Magdalene
abandoned to the pleasures of the world. The scene is a smiling and
varied landscape ; in the centre Mary Magdalene, with the anticipa-
tive glory round her head, is seen dancing along to the sound of a
flute and tabor, while a man in a rich dress leads her by the hand :
several groups of men and women are diverting themselves in the fore-
ground ; in the background Mary Magdalene, with a number of gay
companions, is chasing the stag ; she is mounted on horseback, and
has again the glory round her head : far in the distance she is seen
borne upwards by the angels. This singular and suggestive com-
position is dated 1519. There is a fine impression in the British
Museum.

2. ' Mary Magdalene rebuked by her sister Martha for her vanity
and luxury.' I believe I am the first to suggest that the famous pic-
ture in the Sciarra Palace, by Leonardo da Vinci, known as ' Modesty
and Vanity,' is a version of this subject. When I saw it, this idea
was suggested, and no other filled my mind. The subject is one often
treated, and here treated in Leonardo's peculiar manner. The atti-
tude of the veiled figure is distinctly that of remonstrance and rebuke ;
the other, decked and smiling, looks out of the picture holding flowers
in her hand, as yet unconvinced, unconverted: the vase of ointment
stands near her. In other pictures there is no doubt as to the signifi-
cance of the subject ; it has been gracefully treated in a picture by
Giovanni Lopicino, now in the gallery of the Belvedere at Vienna.
She is seated at her toilette ; her maid is binding her luxuriant hair ;

ST. MARY MAGDALENE. 371

Martha, standing by, appears to be remonstrating with great fervour.
There is a pretty picture by Elisabetta Sirani of the same scene, simi-
larly treated.

3. ' Mary Magdalene conducted by her sister Martha to the feet of
Jesus.' Of this most beautiful subject, I know but one composition
of distinguished merit. It is by Raphael, and exists only in the
drawing, and the rare engraving by Marc Antonio. Christ sits with-
in the porch of the Temple, teaching four of his disciples who stand
near him. Martha and Mary are seen ascending the steps which
lead to the portico : Martha, who is veiled, seems to encourage her
sister, who looks down. I observe that Passavant and others are
uncertain as to the subject of this charming design : it has been
styled ' The Virgin Mary presenting the Magdalene to Christ ; ' but
with any one who has carefully considered the legend there can be
no doubt as to the intention of the artist. ' Mary Magdalene listen-
ing to the preaching of our Saviour, with Martha seated by her side,'
is one of the subjects in the series by Gaudenzio Ferrari at Vercelli :
it is partly destroyed. We have the same subject by F. Zucchero ;
Mary, in a rich dress, is kneeling at the feet of the Saviour, who is
seated under a portico ; Martha, veiled, stands near her, and there
are numerous spectators and accessories.

4. ^ The Magdalene renouncing the Vanities of the World ' is also
a very attractive subject. In a picture by Guido she has partly
divested herself of her rich ornaments, and is taking some pearls
from her hair, while she looks up to heaven with tearful eyes. In a
sketch by Rubens, in the Dulwich Gallery, she is seated in a forest
solitude, still arrayed in her worldly finery, blue satin, pearls, &c.,
and wringing her hands with an expression of the bitterest grief
The treatment, as usual with him, is coarse, but effective. In his
large picture at Vienna, with the figures life-size, Mary is spurning
with her feet a casket of jewels, and throwing herself back with her
hands clasped in an agony of penitence ; while Martha sits behind,
gazing on her with an expression so demurely triumphant as to be
almost comic. There is an exquisite little picture by Gerard Douw
in the Berlin Gallery, in which the Magdalene, in a magnificent robe
of crimson and sables, is looking up to heaven with an expression of
sorrow and penitence ; the table before her is covered with gold and

872 SACRED AXD LEGENDARY ART.

jewels. * Mary Magdalene renouncing the World,' by Le Brun, is a
famous picture, now in the Louvre. She looks up to heaven with
tearful eyes, and is in the act of tearing off a rich mantle ; a casket
of jewels lies overturned at her feet. This picture is said to be the
portrait of Madame de la Yalliere, by whose order it was painted for
the church of the Carmelites at Paris, where she had taken refuge
from the court and from the world. It has that sort of theatrical
grace and grandeur, that mannered mediocrity, characteristic of the
painter and the time.'^ There is a Magdalene in the Gallery at
Munich by Le Brun, which is to me far preferable ; and this, and
not the Paris one, I presume to be the portrait of the Duchesse de
la Yalliere. In a picture by Franceschini she has flung oif her
worldly ornaments, which lie scattered on the ground, and holds a
scourge in her hand, with which she appears to have castigated her-
self: she sinks in the arms of one of her attendant maidens, while
Martha, standing by, seems to speak of peace, and points towards
heaven : the figures are life-size.^ None of these pictures, with the
exception of the precious Leonardo in the Sciarra Palace, have any
remarkable merit as pictures. The scenes between Mary and Martha
are capable of the most dramatic and effective illustration, but have
never yet been worthily treated.

5. ' The embarkation of the Magdalene in Palestine, with Martha,
Lazarus, and the others, cast forth by their enemies in a vessel with-
out sails or rudder, but miraculously conducted by an angel,' is
another subject of which I have seen no adequate representation.
There is a mediocre picture by Curradi in the Florence Gallery.
Among the beautiful frescoes of Gaudenzio Ferrari in the Church of
St. Cristoforo at Yercelli, is the voyage of the Magdalene and her
companions, and their disembarkation at Marseilles.^

6. ' Mary Magdalene preaching to the inhabitants of Marseilles '
has been several times represented in the sculpture and stained glass
of the old cathedrals in the south of France. In the Hotel de Cluny
there is a curious old picture in distemper attributed to King Rene
of Provence, the father of our Margaret of Anjou, and famous for
his skill as a limner. Mary Magdalene is standing on some steps,

^ The print by Edelinck is considered as the masterpiece of that celebrated engraver.
^ Dresden Gal. ^ gee p. 379, note.

ST. MARY MAGDALENE.

873

96 The Assumption of the Magdalene (Albert Durer).

arrayed in loose white drapery, and a veil over her head. She is
addressing earnestly a crowd of listeners, and among them we see
King Rene and his wife Jeanne de Laval on thrones with crown and
sceptre : — a trifling anachronism of about 1400 years, but it may be
taken in a poetical and allegorical sense. The port of Marseilles is

874 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

seen in the background. The same subject has been classically
treated in a series of bas-reliefs in the porch of the Certosa at Pavia:
there is a mistake, however, in exhibiting her as half naked, clothed
only in a skin, and her long hair flowing down over her person : for
she was at this time the missionary saint, and not yet the penitent
of the desert.

7. ^ Mary Magdalene borne by angels above the summit of Mount
Pilon,' called also ' The Assumption of the Magdalene,' is a charm-
ing subject when treated in the right spirit. Unfortunately, we are
oftener reminded of a Pandora, sustained by a group of cupids, or
a Venus rising out of the sea, than of the ecstatic trance of the
reconciled penitent. It was very early a popular theme. In the
treatment we find little variety. She is seen carried upwards very
slightly draped, and often with no other veil than her redundant
hair, flowing over her whole person. She is in the arms of four,
five, or six angels. Sometimes one of the angels bears the alabaster
box of ointment ; far below is a wild mountainous landscape, with
a hermit looking up at the vision, as it is related in the legend. The
illustration is from a fine woodcut of Albert Diirer (96).

In a hymn to the Magdalene, by an old Provencal poet (Balthazar
de la Burle), there is a passage describing her ascent in the arms of
angels, which, from its vivid graphic naivete, is worthy of being
placed under this print of Albert Diirer : —

Ravengat lou jour los anges la portavan

Ben plus hault que lou roc.

Jamais per mauvais temps que fessa ne freddura,

Autre abit non avia que la sien cabellura,

Que corao un mantel d'or tant eram bels e blonds

La couvria de la testa fin al bas des talons.

The fresco by Giulio Romano, in which she is reclining amid
clouds, and sustained by six angels, while her head is raised and her
arms extended with the most ecstatic expression, was cut from the
walls of a chapel in the Trinita di Monte, at Rome, and is now in
our National Gallery.

One of the finest pictures ever painted by Ribera is the Assumption
of the Magdalene in the Louvre, both for beauty of expression and
colour. She is here draped, and her drapery well managed. Tho

ST. MARY MAGDALENE.

Spanish painters never fell into the mistake of the Italians ; they o-ive
us no Magdalenes which recall the idea of a Venus Meretrix. The
rules of the Inquisition were here ab?:olute, and held the painters in
wholesome check, rendering such irreligious innovations inadmissible
und unknown. In the Turin Gallerj^ there is an Assumption of the
Magdalene by Dennis Calvert, admirably painted, in which she is
carried up by four Apollo-like angels, who, with their outstretched
arms, form a sort of throne on which she is seated : she is herself most
lovely, draped in the thin undress of a Yenus ; and the whole com-
position, at first view, brought to my fancy the idea of a Venus risino-
from the sea, throned in her shell and sustained by nymphs and
cupids.

In general, the early painters, Albert Diirer, Vivarini, Lorenzo di
Credi, Benedetto Montagna, represent her in an upright position,
with hands folded in prayer, or crossed over her bosom, and thus
soaring upwards, without effort of will or apparent consciousness ;
while the painters of the seventeenth century (with whom this was a
favourite subject) strained their imagination to render the form and
attitude voluptuously graceful, and to vary the action of the attendant
angels, until, in one or two instances, the representation became at
once absurdly prosaic and offensively theatrical. F. Zucchero,
Cambiasi, Lanfranco, Carlo Maratti, have all given us versions of
this subject in a florid, mannered style.

Over the high altar of the Madeleine, at Paris, is the same subject
in a marble group, by Marochetti, rather above life-size. Two angels
bear her up, while on each side an archangel kneels in adoration.

8. The Last Communion of the Magdalene is represented in two
different ways, according to the two different versions of the story :
in the first, she expires in her cave, and angels administer the last
sacrament ; one holds a taper, another presents the cup, a third the
wafer. This has been painted b}^ Domenichino. In the other
version, she receives the sacrament from the hand of St. Maximin,
who wears the episcopal robes, and the Magdalene kneels before him,
half-naked, emaciated, and sustained by angels : the scene is the
porch of a church.

9. The Magdalene dying in the Wilderness, extended on the bare

878 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

earth, and pressing the crucifix to her bosom, is a frequent subject
in the seventeenth century. One of the finest examples is the
picture of Rustichino in the Florence Gallery. The well-known
' Djmg Magdalene ' of Canova has the same merits and defects as
his Penitent Magdalene.

I saw a picture at Bologna by Tiarini, of which the conception
appeared to me very striking and poetical. The Virgin, * La Madre
Addolorata,' is seated, and holds in her hand the crown of thorns,
which she contemplates with a mournful expression; at a little
distance kneels Mary Magdalene with long dishevelled hair, in all
the abandonment of grief. St. John stands behind, with his hands
clasped, and his eyes raised to heaven.

When the Magdalene is introduced into pictures of the ' Incredulity
of Thomas,' it is in allusion to a famous parallel in one of the
Fathers, in which it is insisted ' that the faith of Mary Magdalene
and the doubts of Thomas were equally serviceable to the cause of
Christ.'

Among the many miracles imputed to the Magdalene, one only
has become popular as a subject of Art. Besides being extremely
naive and poetical, it is extremely curious as illustrating the manners
of the time. It was probably fabricated in the fourteenth century,
and intended as a kind of parable, to show that those who trusted in
Mary Magdalene, and invoked her aid, might in all cases reckon
upon her powerful intercession. It is thus related : —

^ Soon after Mary Magdalene landed in Provence, a certain prince
of that country arrived in the city of Marseilles with his wife, for the
purpose of sacrificing to the gods ; but they were dissuaded from doing
so by the preaching of Mary Magdalene : and the prince one day said
to the saint, " We greatly desire to have a son. Canst thou obtain
for us that grace from the God whom thou preachest?" And the
Magdalene replied, *' If thy prayer be granted, wilt thou then
believe?" And he answered, "Yes, I will believe." But shortly
afterwards, as he still doubted, he resolved to sail to Jerusalem to
visit St. Peter, and to find out whether his preaching agreed with that
of Mary Magdalene. His wife resolved to accompany him : but the
husband said, " How shall that be possible, seeing that thou art with

ST. MARY MAGDALENE. 377

cliild, and tlie dangers of the sea are very great ? " But she insisted,
and, throwing herself at his feet, she obtained her desire. Then, hav-
ing laden a vessel with all that was necessary, they set sail, and when
a day and a night were come and gone, there arose a terrible storm.
The poor woman was seized prematurely with the pains of childbirth ;
in the midst of the tempest she brought forth her first-born son, and
then died. The miserable father, seeing his wife dead, and his child
deprived of its natural solace, and crying for food, wrung his hands
in despair, and knew not what to do. And the sailors said, " Let us
throw this dead body into the sea, for as long as it remains on board
the tempest will not abate." But the prince, by his entreaties, and
by giving them money, restrained them for a while. Just then, for
so it pleased God, they arrived at a rocky island, and the prince laid
the body of his wife on the shore, and, taking the infant in his
arms, he wept greatlj', and said, " 0, Mary Magdalene ! to my grief
and sorrow didst thou come to Marseilles. Why didst thou ask thy
God to give me a son only that I might lose both son and wife
together ? 0, Mary Magdalene ! have pity on my grief, and if thy
prayers may avail, save at least the life of my child !" Then he laid
down the infant on the bosom of the mother, and covered them both
with his cloak, and went on his way, weeping. And when the prince
and his attendants had arrived at Jerusalem, St. Peter showed him
all the places where our Saviour had performed his miracles and the
hill on which he had been crucified, and the spot from whence he had
ascended into heaven. Having been instructed in the faith by St.
Peter, at the end of two years the prince embarked to return to his
own country, and passing near to the island in which he had lefc
his wife, he landed in order to weep upon her grave.

^ Now, wonderful to relate ! — his infant child had been preserved
alive by the prayers of the blessed Mary Magdalene : and he was
accustomed to run about on the sands of the sea-shore, to gather up
pebbles and shells ; and when the child, who had never beheld a
man, perceived the strangers, he was afraid, and ran and hid himself
under the cloak which covered his dead mother ; and the father, and
all who were with him, were filled with astonishment ; but their sur-
prise was still greater when the woman opened her eyes, and stretched
out her arms to her husband. Then they offered up thanks, and all
VOL. I. 3 b

SACRED AXD LEGENDARY ART.

returned together to Marseilles, where they fell at the feet of Mary
Magdalene, and received baptism. From that time forth, all the
people of Marseilles and the surrounding country became Chris-
tians.'

The picturesque capabilities of this extravagant but beautiful
legend will immediately suggest themselves to the fancy — the wild
sea-shore — the lovely naked infant wandering on the beach — the
mother, slumbering the sleep of death, covered with the mysterious
drapery — the arrival of the mariners — what opportunitj^ for scenery
and grouping, colour and expression I It was popular in the Griotto
school, which arose and flourished just about the period when the
enthusiasm for Mary Magdalene was at its height ; but later painters
have avoided it, or, rather, it was not sufficiently accredited for a
Church legend ; and I have met with no example later than the end
of the fourteenth century.

The old fresco of Taddeo Gaddi in the S. Croce at Florence will give
some idea of the manner in which the subject was usually treated.
In the foreground is a space representing an island ; water flowing
round it, the water being indicated by many strange fishes. On the
island a woman lies extended with her hands crossed upon her
bosom ; an infant lifts up the mantle, and seems to show her to a
man bending over her ; the father on his knees, with hands joined,
looks devoutly up to heaven ; four others stand behind expressing
astonishment or fixed attention. In the distance is a ship, in which
sits a man with a long white beard, in red drapery; beside him
another in dark drapery ; beyond is a view of a port with a light-
house, intended, I presume, for Marseilles. The story is here told
in a sort of Chinese manner as regards the drawing, composition,
and perspective ; but the figures and heads are expressive and
significant.

In the Chapel of the Magdalene at Assisi, the same subject is given
with some variation. The bark containing the pilgrims is guided by
an angel, and the infant is seated by the head of the mother, as if
watching her.

The life of Mary Magdalene in a series of subjects, mingling the
scriptural and legendary incidents, may often be found in the old

ST.. MARY MAGDALENE. 379

French and Italian churches, more especially in the chapels dedicated
to her : and I should think that among the remains of ancient paint-
ing now in course of discovery in our own sacred edifices they cannot
fail to occur. ^ In the mural frescoes, in the altar-pieces, the stained
glass, and the sculpture of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
such a series perpetually presents itself; and, well or ill executed,
will in general be found to comprise the following scenes : —

1. Her conversion at the feet of the Saviour. 2. Christ entertained
in the house of Martha : Mary sits at his feet to hear his words. 3.
The raising of Lazarus. 4. Mary Magdalene and her companions,
embark in a vessel without sails, oars, or rudder. 5. Steered by an
angel, they land at Marseilles. 6. Mary Magdalene preaches to the
people. 7. The miracle of the mother and child. 8. The penance
of the Magdalene in a desert cave. 9. She is carried up in the arms
of angels. 10. She receives the Sacraments from the hands of an
angel or from St. Maximin. 11. She dies, and angels bear her
spirit to heaven.^

The subjects vary of course in number and in treatment, but, with
some attention to the foregoing legend, they will easily be understood
and discriminated. Such a series was painted by Giotto in the
Chapel of the Bargello at Florence (where the portrait of Dante was
lately discovered), but they are nearly obliterated; the miracle of
the mother and child is, however, to be distinguished on the left

^ There are about 150 churches in England dedicated in honour of Mary Magdalene.

2 There is a fine series of frescoes from the life of Mary Magdalene by Gaudenzio Ferrari,
in the Church of St. Cristoforo at Vercelli. 1. Mary and Martha are seated, with a crowd
of others, listening to Christ, who is preaching in a pulpit. Martha is veiled and thought-
ful : Mary, richly dressed, looks up eagerly. — Half destroyed. 2. Mary anoints the feet
of the Saviour : she lays her head down on his foot with a tender humiliation : in the
background the Maries at the sepulchre and the Noli me tangere. — This also in great part
ruined. 3. The legend of the Prince of Provence and his wife, who are kneeling before
Lazarus and Mary. Martha is to the left, and Marcella behind. In the background" are
the various scenes of the legend — the embarkation ; the scene on the island ; the arrival
at Jerusalem ; tie return to Marseilles with the child. — This is one of the best preserved,
and the heads are remarkably fine. 4. Mary Magdalene sustained by angels, her feet
resting between the wings of one of them, is borne upwards. All the upper part of the
figure is destroyed. In the background are the last communion and burial of the Magdalene.
I saw these frescoes in October 1855. They suffered greatly from the siege in 1638, when
several bombs shattered this part of the wall, and will soon cease to exist. They are en-
graved in their present state in Pianazzi's ' Opere di Gaudenzio Ferrari,' No. 19.

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

near the entrance. The treatment of the whole has been imitated
by Taddeo Gaddi in the Kiniiccini Chapel at Florence, and by
Giovanni da Milano and Giottino in the Chapel of the Magdalene
at Assisi ; on the windows of the Cathedrals of Chartres and Bourges ;
and in a series of bas-reliefs round the porch of the Certosa of Pavia,
executed in the classical style of the sixteenth century.

On reviewing generally the infinite variety which has been given
to these favourite subjects, the life and penance of the Magdalene, I
must end where I began — in how few instances has the result been
satisfactory to mind or heart, or soul or sense! Many have well
represented the particular situation, the appropriate sentiment, the
sorrow, the hope, the devotion : but who has given us the character?
A noble creature, with strong sympathies and a strong will, with
powerful faculties of every kind, working for good or evil — such a
woman Mary Magdalene must have been, even in her humiliation;
and the feeble, girlish, commonplace, and even vulgar women who
appear to have been usually selected as models by the artists, turned
into Magdalenes by throwing up their eyes and letting down their
hair, ill represent the enthusiastic convert or the majestic patroness.

I must not quit the subject of the Magdalene without some allusion
to those wild legends which suppose a tender attachment (but of
course wholly pure and Platonic) to have existed between her and
St. John the Evangelist.^ In the enthusiasm which Mary Magdalene
excited in the thirteenth century, no supposition that tended to exalt
her was deemed too extravagant : some of her panegyrists go so far
as to insist that the marriage at Cana, which our Saviour and his
mother honoured by their presence, was the marriage of St. John
with the Magdalene ; and that Christ repaired to the wedding-feast
on purpose to prevent the accomplishment of the marriage, having
destined both to a state of greater perfection. This fable was never
accepted by the Church ; and among the works of Art consecrated to

^ Bayle, Diet. Hist. ; Molanus, lib. iv., de Hist. Sacrar. S. Mag., cap. xx. p. 428 ;
Thomasiutn, prefat. 78. The authority usually cited is Abdius, a writer who pretended to
have lived in the first century, and whom Bayle styles * the most impudent of legendary
impostors.*

ST. MARTHA.

3S1

religious purposes I have never met with any which placed St. John
and the Magdalene in particular relation to each other, except when
they are seen together at the foot of the cross, or lamenting with the
Virgin over the body of the Saviour: but such was the popularity of
these extraordinary legends towards the end of the thirteenth and in
the beginning of the fourteenth century, that I think it possible such
may exist, and, for want of this key, may appear hopelessly enig-
matical.

In a series of eight subjects which exhibit the life of St. John pre-
fixed to a copy of the Kevelation,^ there is one which I think admits
of this interpretation. The scene is the interior of a splendid build-
ing sustained by pillars. St. John is baptizing a beautiful woman,
who is sitting in a tub ; she has long golden hair. On the outside of
the building seven men are endeavouring to see what is going
forward : one peeps through the key-hole ; one has thrown himself
flat on the ground, and has his eye to an aperture ; a third, mounted
on the shoulders of another, is trying to look in at a window ; a fifth,
who cannot get near enough, tears his hair in an agony of impa-
tience ; and another is bawling into the ear of a deaf and blind
comrade a description of what he has seen. The execution is
French, of the fourteenth century ; the taste, it will be said, is also
French; the figures are drawn with a pen and slightly tinted: the de-
sign is incorrect ; but the vivacity of gesture and expression, though
verging on caricature, is so true, and so comically dramatic, and the
whole composition so absurd, that it is impossible to look at it with-
out a smile.

St. Martha.

lial. Santa Marta, Vergine, Albergatrice di Cristo. Fr. Sainte Marthe, la Travailleuse.
Patroness of cooks and housewives. (June 29, a.d. 84.)

Martha has shared in the veneration paid to her sister. The impor-
tant part assigned to her in the history of Mary has already beeji
adverted to ; she is always represented as the instrument through
whom Mary was converted, the one who led her first to the feet of
the Saviour. * Which thing,' says the story, * should not be

' Paris, Biblioth^que du Roi, MS. 7013, fourteenth century.

382 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

accounted as the least of her merits, seeing that Martha was a
chaste and prudent virgin, and the other publicly contemned for her
evil life ; notwithstanding which, Martha did not despise her, nor
reject her as a sister, but wept for her shame and admonished her
gently and with persuasive words ; and reminded her of her noble
birth, to which she was a disgrace, and that Lazarus, their brother,
being a soldier, would certainly get into trouble on her account.
So she prevailed, and conducted her sister to the presence of
Christ, and afterwards, as it is well known, she lodged and enter-
tained the Saviour in her own house.' ^

According to the Provencal legend, while Mary Magdalene con-
verted the people of Marseilles, Martha preached to the people of
Aix and its vicinity. In those days the country was ravaged by a
fearful dragon, called the Tarasque^ which during the day lay con-
cealed in the river Rhone. Martha overcame this monster by
sprinkling him with holy water, and having bound him with her girdle
(or, as others say, her garter), the people speedily put an end to
him. The scene of this legend is now the city of Tarascon, where
there is, or was, a magnificent church, dedicated to St. Martha, and
richly endowed by Louis XL

The same legends assure us that St. Martha was the first who
founded a monastery for women ; the first, after the blessed Mother
of Christ, who vowed her virginity to God ; and that when she had
passed many years in prayer and good works, feeling that her end
was near, she desired to be carried to a spot where she could see the
glorious sun in heaven, and that they should read to her the history
of the passion of Christ ; and when they came to the words, ' Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit,' she died.

As Mary Magdalene is the patroness of repentant frailty, so
Martha is the especial patroness of female discretion and good house-
keeping. In this character, she is often represented with a
skimmer or ladle in her hand, or a large bunch of keys is attached
to her girdle. For example, in a beautiful old German altar-piece
attributed to Albert Diirer,^ she is standing in a magnificent dress,
a jewelled turban, and holding a well-known implement of cookery
in her hand. In a missal of Henry VIII.^ she is represented with

* II Perfetto Legendario. * Queen's Gal. * Bodleian MSS., Oxford.

ST. LAZARUS.

the same utensil, and 'her name is inscribed beneath. In general,
however, her dress is not rich bnt homely, and her usual attributes
as patron saint are the pot of holy water, the asperge in her hand,
and a dragon bound at her feet. In the chapels dedicated to the
Magdalene, she finds her appropriate place as pendant to her
sister, generally distinguished by her close coif and by being draped
in blue or dark brown or grey ; while the Magdalene is usually
habited in red. When attended by her dragon, St. Martha is some-
times confounded with St. Margaret, who is also accompanied by a
dragon : but it must be remembered that St. Margaret bears a cruci-
fix or palm, and St. Martha the pot of holy water ; and in general
the early painters have been careful to distinguish these attributes.

St. Martha, besides being a model of female discretion, sobriety,
and chastity, and the patroness of good housewives, was, according to
the old legends, the same woman who was healed by Christ, and who
in gratitude erected to his honour a bronze statue, which statue is
said to have existed in the time of Eusebius, and to have been thrown
down by Julian the Apostate.-^

When Martha and Mary stand together as patronesses, one repre-
sents the active^ the other the contemplative , Christian life.

Martha is generally introduced among the holy women who attend
the crucifixion and entombment of our Lord. In a most beautiful
Entombment by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Martha kisses the hand of the
Saviour, while Mary Magdalene is seen behind with outspread arms :
Lazarus and Maximin stand at the head of the Saviour.

Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, is revered as the first
bishop and patron saint of Marseilles, and is generally represented
with the mitre and stole. There are at least fifty saints who wear
the same attire ; but when a figure in episcopal robes is introduced
into the same picture, or the same series, with Martha and Mary, it

^ It is perhaps in reference to this tradition that St. Martha has become the patroness
of an order of charitable women, who serve in the hospitals, particularly the military hoi-
pitals, in France and elsewhere — her brother Lazarus having been a soldier.

8S4 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

may be presumed, if not otherwise distinguished, to be St. Lazarus :
sometimes, but rarely, the introduction of a bier, or his resurrec-
tion, in the background, serves to fix the identity. Grouped with
these three saints, we occasionally find St. Marcella (or Martilla),
who accompanied them from the East, but who is not distinguished
by any attribute ; nor is anything particular related of her, except
that she wrote the life of Martha, and preached the Gospel in
Sclavonia.

There are beautiful full-length figures of Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and
Marcella in the Brera at Milan — painted by one of the Luini school,
and treated in a very classical and noble stj^le — draped, and standing
in niches to represent statues. At Munich are the separate figures
of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, by Griinewald ; Lazarus is seen standing
by his bier ; Mary, in the rich costume of a German lady of rank,
presents her vase ; and Martha is habited like a German hausfraUj
with her dragon at her feet. They are much larger than life, admir-
ably painted, and full of character, though somewhat grotesque in
treatment.

Over the altar of the church ' La Major,' at Marseilles, stands
Lazarus as bishop ; Mary on the right, and Martha on the left ; under-
neath these three statues runs a series of bas-reliefs containing the
history of Lazarus. 1. He is recalled to life. 2. Seated on the edge
of his tomb, he addresses the spectators. 3. He entertains Christ. 4.
The arrival at Marseilles. 5. He preaches to the people. 6. He is
consecrated bishop. 7. He sufiers martyrdom.

In a tabernacle or triptica by Nicolo Frumenti (a.d. 1461),^ the
central compartment represents the raising of Lazarus, who has the
truest and most horrid expression of death and dawning life I ever
beheld. On the volet to the right is the supper in the house of Levi,
and the Magdalene anointing the feet of the Saviour ; on the left
volet, Martha meets him on his arrival at Bethany : ' Lord, if thou
hadst been here, my brother had not died.'

In the chapel of Mary Magdalene at Assisi, we find, besides the
history of her life, full-length figures of Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and
Maximin. Mary, a beautiful dignified figure, as usual in rich red

1 Fl. Gal.

ST. MARY OF EGYPT.

drapery, stands to the right of the altar, holding out her hand to
a kneeling Franciscan : on the left Martha stands in grey drapery
with a close hood : Lazarus and Maximin as bishops.

This will give an idea of the manner in which these personages are
either grouped together or placed in connection with each other.

St. Mary of Egypt.

Itdl. Santa Maria Egiziaca Penitente. Fr. Sainte Marie rEgyptienno, La Gipesienne,
La Jussienne. (April 2, a.d. 433.)

I PLACE the story of St. Mary of Egypt- here, for though she had no
real connection with the Magdalene, in works of art they are perpetu-
ally associated as les bienheureuses pecker esses ^ and in their personal
and pictorial attributes not unfrequently confounded. The legend of
Mary Egyptiaca is long anterior to that of Mary Magdalene. It was
current in a written form so early as the sixth century, being then
received as a true history ; but it appears to have been originally one
of those instructive parables or religious romances which, in the early
ages of the Church, were composed and circulated for the edification
of the pious. In considering the manners of that time, we may
easily believe that it may have had some foundation in fact. That a
female anchoret of the name of Mary lived and died in a desert of
Palestine near the river Jordan — that she there bewailed her sins in
solitude for a long course of years, and was accidentally discovered —
is a very ancient tradition, supported by contemporary evidence. The
picturesque, miraculous, and romantic incidents with which the story
has been adorned, appear to have been added to enhance the inter-
est ; and, in its present form, the legend is attributed to St. Jerome.
' Towards the year of our Lord 365, there dwelt in Alexandria a
woman whose name was Mary, and who in the infamy of her life far
exceeded Mary Magdalene. After passing seventeen years in every
species of vice, it happened that one day, while roving along the sea-
VOL. T. 3 c

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

shore, she beheld a ship ready to sail, and a large company preparing
to embark. She inquired whither they were going ? They replied
that they were going up to Jerusalem, to celebrate the feast of the
true cross. She was seized with a sudden desire to accompany them ;
but having no money, she paid the price of her passage by selling
herself to the sailors and pilgrims, whom she allured to sin by every
means in her power. On their arrival at Jerusalem, she joined the
crowds of worshippers who had assembled to enter the church ; but
all her attempts to pass the threshold were in vain ; whenever she
thought to enter the porch, a supernatural power drove her back in
shame, in terror, in despair. Struck by the remembrance of her sins,
and filled with repentance, she humbled herself and prayed for help ;
the interdiction was removed, and she entered the church of God,
crawling on her knees. Thenceforward she renounced her wicked
and shameful life, and, buying at a baker's three small loaves, she
wandered forth into solitude, and never stopped or reposed till she
had penetrated into the deserts beyond the Jordan, where she re-
mained in severest penance, living on roots and fruits, and drinking
water only ; her garments dropped away in rags piecemeal, leaving
her unclothed ; and she prayed fervently not to be left thus exposed :
suddenly her hair grew so long as to form a covering for her whole
person (or, according to another version, an angel brought her a gar-
ment from heaven). Thus she dwelt in the wilderness in prayer and
penance, supported only by her three small loaves, which, like the
widow's meal failed her not, until, after the lapse of forty-seven
years, she was discovered by a priest named Zosimus. Of him she
requested silence, and that he would return at the end of a year, and
bring with him the elements of the holy sacrament, that she might
confess and communicate before she was released from earth. And
Zosimus obeyed her, and returned after a year; but not being able to
pass the Jordan, the penitent, supernaturaily assisted, passed over the
water to him ; and having received the sacrament with tears, she
desired the priest to leave her once more to her solitude, and to re-
turn in a year from that time. And when he returned he found her
dead, her hands crossed on her bosom. And he wept greatly ; and,
looking around, he saw written in the sand these words : — " 0 Father
Zosimus, bury the body of the poor sinner, Mary of Egypt I Give

ST. MARY OF EGYPT. ggy

earth to earth, and dust to dust, for Christ's sake ! " He endeavoured
to obey this last command, but being full of years, and troubled and
weak, his strength failed him, and a lion came out of the wood and
aided him, digging with his paws till the grave was sufficiently large
to receive the body of the saint, which being committed to the earth,
the lioK retired gently, and the old man returned home praising God,
who had shown mercy to the penitent.'

In single figures and devotional pictures, Mary of Egypt is por-
trayed as a meagre, wasted, aged woman, with long hair, and holding
in her hand three small loaves. Sometimes she is united with Mary
Magdalene, as joint emblems of female penitence ; and not in paint-
ing only, but in poetry, —

Like redeemed Magdalene,
Or tliat Egyptian penitent, whose tears
Fretted the rock, and moisten'd round her cavo
The thirsty desert.

Thus they stand together in a little rare print by Marc' Antonio, the
one distinguished by her vase, the other by her three loaves. Some-
times, when they stand together, Mary Magdalene is young, beauti-
ful, richly dressed; and Mary of Egypt, a squalid, meagre, old wo-
man, covered with rags : as in a rare and curious print by Israel von
Mecken.^

Pictures from her life are not common. The earliest I have met
with is the series painted on the walls of the Chapel of the Bargello,
at Florence, above the life of Mary Magdalene : they had been
whitewashed over. In seeking for the portrait of Dante, this white-
wash has been in part removed ; and it is only just possible for those
acquainted with the legend to trace in several compartments the
history of Mary of Egypt.

1. Detached subjects are sometimes met with. In the church of
San Pietro-in-P6, at Cremona, they preserve relics said to be those
of Mary of Egypt : and over the altar there is a large picture by

* B. Museum.

888 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

Malosso, representing the saint at the door of the Temple at Jeru-
salem, and repulsed by a miraculous power. She is richly dressed,
with a broad brimmed hat, and stands on the step, as one endeav-
ouring to enter, while several persons look on, — some amazed, others
mocking.

2. Mary of Egypt doing penance in the desert is easily confounded
with the penitent Magdalene. Where there is no skull, no vase of
ointment, no crucifix near her, where the penitent is aged, or at least
not young and beautiful, with little or no drapery, and black or grey
hair, the picture may be presumed to represent Mary of Egypt, and
not the Magdalene, however like in situation and sentiment. There
is a large fine picture of this subject at Alton Towers.

3. The first meeting of Mary and the hermit Zosimus has been
painted by Ribera : in this picture her hair is grey and short, her
skin dark and sunburnt, and she is clothed in rags.

4. In another picture by the same painter she is passing over the
Jordan by the help of angels ; she is seen floating in the air with her
hands clasped, and Zosimus ks kneeling by. This subject might
easily be confounded with the Assumption of the Magdalene, but the
sentiment ought to distinguish them; for, instead of the ecstatic
trance of the Magdalene, we have merely a miraculous incident: the
figure is but little raised above the waters, and the hermit is kneel-
ing on the shore. ^

5. St. Mary receives the last communion from the hands of Zosimus.
T have known this subject to be confounded with the last communion
of the Magdalene. The circumstances of the scene, as well as the
character, should be attended to. Mary of Egypt receives the sacra-
ment in the desert ; a river is generally in the background : Zosimus
is an aged monk. Where the Magdalene receives the sacrament
from the hands of Maximin, the scene is a portico or chapel with
rich architecture, and Maximin wears the habit of a bishop.

6. The death of Mary of Egypt. Zosimus is kneeling beside her,
and the lion is licking her feet or digging her grave. The presence
of the lion distinguishes this subject from the death of Mary Mag-
dalene.

* It was in the Sp. Gal. in the Louvre, now dispersed.

ST. MARY OF EGYPT.

97

The Death of Mary of Egypt.

St. Mary of Egypt was early a popular saint in France, and parti-
cularly venerated by tlie Parisians, till eclipsed by the increasing
celebrity of the Magdalene. She was styled, familiarly, La Gipesienne
(the Gipsy), softened by time into La Jussienne. The street in which
stood a convent of reformed women, dedicated to her, is still La Rue
Jussienne.

We find her whole story in one of the richly painted windows of
the cathedral of Chartres ; and again in the ^ Yitraux de Bourges,'
where the inscription underneath is written ' Segiptiaca."

Among the best modern frescoes which I saw at Paris, was the de-
coration of a chapel in the church of St. Merry, dedicated to Ste.
Marie I'Egyptienne : the religious sentiment and manner of middle-
age Art are as usual imitated, but with a certain unexpected originality

SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

in the conception of some of the subjects which pleased me. 1. On
the wall, to the right, she stands leaning on the pedestal of the
statue of the Madonna in a meditative attitude, and having the dress
and the dark complexion of an Egyptian dancing-girl ; a crowd of
people are seen behind entering the gates of the Temple, at which
she alone has been repulsed. 2. She receives the communion from
the hand of Zosimus, and is buried by a lion.

On the left-hand wall. 3. Her apotheosis. She is borne aloft by
many angels, two of whom swing censers, and below is seen the
empty grave watched by a lion. 4. Underneath is a group of hermits,
to whom the aged Zosimus is relating the story of the penitence and
death of St. Mary of Egypt.

I do not in general accept modern representations as authorities,
nor quote them as examples ; but this resuscitation of Mary of Egypt
in a city where she was so long a favourite saint, appears to me a
curious fact. Her real existence is doubted even by the writers of
that Church which, for fourteen centuries, has celebrated her con-
version and glorified her name. Yet the poetical, the moral signi-
ficance of her story remains ; and, as I have reason to know, can still
impress the fancy, and, through the fancy, waken the conscience
and touch the heart.

There were several other legends current in the early ages of
Christianity, promulgated, it should seem, with the distinct purpose
of calling the frail and sinning woman to repentance. If these were
not pure inventions, if the names of these beatified penitents retained
in the offices of the Church must be taken as evidence that they did
exist, it is not less certain that the prototype in all these cases was
the reclaimed woman of the Scriptures, and that it was the pitying
charity of Christ which first taught men and angels to rejoice over
the sinner that repenteth.

The legend of Mary, the niece of the hermit Abraham,^ must not
be confounded with that of Mary of Egypt. The scene of this story

^ Santa Maria Penitente.

ST. MARY OF EGYPT, ETC. 891

is placed in the deserts of Syria. The anchoret Abraham had a
brother, who lived in the world and possessed great riches, and when
he died, leaving an only daughter, she was brought to her uncle
Abraham, apparently because of his great reputation for holiness,
to be brought up as he should think fit. The ideas of this holy man,
with regard to education, seem to have been those entertained by
many wise and religious people since his time ; but there was this
difference, that he did not show her the steep and thorny way to
heaven, and choose for himself ' the primrose path of dalliance.'
Instead of applying to his charge a code of morality as distinct as
possible from his own, he, more just, only brought up his niece in
the same ascetic principles which he deemed necessary for the sal-
vation of all men.

Mary, therefore, being brought to her uncle when she was only
seven years old, he built a cell close to his own, in which he shut
her up ; and, through a little window, which opened between their
cells, he taught her to say her prayers, to recite the Psalter, to sing
hymns, and dedicated her to a life of holiness and solitude, praying
continually that she might be delivered from the snares of the arch-
enemy, and keeping her far, as he thought, from all possibility of
temptation ; while he daily instructed her to despise and hate all the
pleasures and vanities of the world.

Thus Mary grew up in her cell till she was twenty years old ; then
it happened that a certain youth, who had turned hermit and dwelt
in that desert, came to visit Abraham to receive his instructions;
and he beheld through the window the face of the maiden as she
prayed in her cell, and heard her voice as she sang the morning and
the evening hymn ; and he was inflamed with desire of her beauty,
till his whole heart became as a furnace for the love of her ; and for-
getting his religious vocation, and moved thereto by the devil, he
tempted Mary, and she fell. When she came to herself, her heart
was troubled ; she beat her breast and wept bitterly, thinking of what
she had been, what she had now become; and she despaired, and
said in her heart, ' For me there is no hope, no return ; shame is
my portion evermore I ' So she fled, not daring to meet the face of
her uncle, and went to a distant place, and lived a life of sin and
shame for two years.

302 SACRED AND LEGENDARY ART.

Now, on the same night that she fled from her cell, Abraham had
a dream ; and he saw in his dream a monstrous dragon, who came
to his cell, and finding there a beautiful white dove, devoured it, and
returned to his den. Wlien the hermit awoke from his dream he
was perplexed, and knew not what it might portend ; but again he
dreamt, and he saw the same dragon, and he put his foot on its
liead, and crushed it, and took from its maw the beautiful dove, and
put it in his bosom, and it came to life again, and spread its wings
and flew towards heaven.

Then the old man knew that this must relate to his niece Mary ;
so he took up his staff, and went forth through the world seeking her
everj^where. At length he found her, and seeing her overpowered
with shame and despair, he exhorted her to take courage, and
comforted her, and promised to take her sin and her penance on him-
self. She wept and embraced his knees, and said, ' 0 my father !
if thou thinkest there is hope forme, I will follow thee whithersoever
thou goest, and kiss thy footsteps which lead me out of this gulf of
sin and death !' So he prayed with her, and reminded her that God
did not desire the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn
from his wickedness and live ; and she w^as comforted. And the
next morning Abraham rose up and took his niece by the hand,
leaving behind them her g£ij attire and jewels and ill-gotten wealth.

And they returned together to the cell in the wildsrness.

From this time did Mary lead a life of penitence and of great
humility, ministering to her aged uncle, who died glorifying God :
after his death, she lived on many years, praising God, and doing
good in humbleness and singleness of heart, and having favour with
the people ; so that from all the country round they brought the sick,
and those who were possessed, and she healed them, — such virtue was
in her prayers, although she had been a sinner ! Nay, it is written,
that even the touch of her garment restored health to the afflicted.

At length she died, and the angels carried her spirit out of the
shadow and the cloud of sin into the glory and the joy of
heaven.

Although the legend of Mary the Penitent is accepted by the
Church, which celebrates her conversion on the 29th of October,

ST. THAIS. — ST. PELAGIA.

effigies of her must be rare ; I have never met with any devotional
representation of her. A print attributed to Albert Diirer repre-
sents the hermit Abraham bringing back his penitent niece to his
cell.^

In the Louvre are two large landscapes by Philippe de Champagne,
which in poetry and grandeur of conception come near to those of
Mccolo Poussin ; both represent scenes from the life of Mary the
Penitent. In the first, amid a wild and rocky landscape, is the cell
of Abraham, and Mary, sitting within it, is visited by the young
hermit who tempted her to sin; in the second, we have the same
wdlderness, under another aspect ; Mary, in a rude secluded hut, em-
bowered in trees, is visited by pilgrims and votaries, who bring to
her on their shoulders and on litters, the sick and the afflicted, to
be healed by her prayers. The daughter of Champagne, whom he
tenderly loved, was a nun at Port-Royal, and I think it probable
that these pictures (like others of his works) were painted for that
celebrated convent.

St. Thais, a renowned Greek saint, is another of these 'hienheu-
reuses pecheresses^'' not the same who sat at Alexander's feast, and
fired Persepolis, but a firebrand in her own way. St. Pelagia, called
Pelagia Meretrix and Pelagia Mima (for she was also an actress), is
another. These I pass over without further notice, because I have
never seen nor read of any representation of them in Western Art.

St. Afra, w^ho sealed her conversion with her blood, will be found
among the Martyrs.

Poets have sung, and moralists and sages have taught, that for
the frail woman there was nothing left but to die ; or if more re-
mained for her to suffer, there was at least nothing left for her to
be or do : no choice between sackcloth and ashes and the livery of sin.

The beatified penitents of the early Christian Church spoke
another lesson ; spoke divinely of hope for the fallen, hope without
self-abasement or defiance. We, in these days, acknowledge no such
saints ; we have even done our best to dethrone Mary Magdalene ;
but we have martyrs, — ' by the pang without the palm,' — and one

^ ' Leben und Werke von Albrecht Diirer,' No. 2067.
VOL I. 3d

394

RACKED AND LEGENDARY ART.

at least among these who has not died without lifting up a voice of
eloquent and solemn warning ; who has borne her palm on earth, and
whose starry erown may he seen on high even now^ amid the constel-
lations of Genius.

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